ZME Science

                                                                                                 (no science in this picture, it’s just fun)

What are X-rays? You may think you know the answer, but things are a bit more complicated than they seem. In fact, they are a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to microwaves or radio waves. But X-rays have way more energy than these types of radiation, which makes them special.They are also called Röntgen radiation after one of the first investigators of the X-rays, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. He first described them in 1895, an achievement for which he was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics. During World War I, X-rays were already being used for medical purposes. At the time the study of X-rays was very dangerous.

Most of the natural X-rays appear when highly excited atoms decay back to their ground state configuration. X-rays are emitted when a highly energetic beam of charged particles such as electrons is rapidly decelerated. But as you probably know, their primary use is in medicine.

A beam of energetic electrons is focused on the target, and to cut a long story short, it determines the damage (or lack of damage) to the skeletal system, as well as some diseases in soft tissue. A very important part of medicine today, X-rays have made their mark on our world. It would be a shame not to know anything about them, at least.

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