Radiation physics

Dental Radiography: Principles and Techniques, chapter 2 p9-p19. We will talk about parts of radiation , properties of X-ray and X-ray machine. Let's take some revision of physics to understand how we can generate X-ray and how it will interact with our body, you know that we are dealing with matters which is anything that occupy a space and has a mass , matters composed from molecules , molecules composed from atoms and each atom composed from a nucleus and orbital electrons(-ve charge) , inside the nucleus there are neutrons(no charge) and protons (+ve charge). The number of protons = the number of electrons in atoms in the equilibrium state, the Atomic number is the number of protons , the Atomic mass number is the number of protons and neutrons, figure 2-1 ( the basic structure of the atom). Electrons must be in shells, never in between shells or the forbidden zone , we have K, L, M, N, P, O & Q shells , and in each shell we have a rule for the number of electrons (2n^2) so in K we have 2e ( 2X1^2=2) in L we have 8e (2X2^2=8) M we have 18e (2X3^2= 18) and so on. The K shell is the closest shell to the nucleus has the maximum binding energy so we need high energy to remove electron from K shell not like removing electron from outer shells which needs less.

Radiation ( )it emission and propagation of

energy in a form of waves or particle , X-ray is one type of radiation,we can deal with X-ray as waves or we can consider it as photons both are applicable. Radiation types: 1-Electromagnatic : X-ray, radio wave, ultra violet light and infra red
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2-Particulate : alpha , beta and neutrons 3-Sound and ultra sound ** so X-ray is an electromagnetic radiation. electromagnetic means that that we have electrical field and magnetic field at the same time. X-ray as other electromagnetic radiation travels as speed of light, gamma rays is another example of electromagnetic radiations which will be produced when electrons hit the nucleus itself.

Radioactive decay : unstable atoms undergo spontaneous disintegration to reach more

stable state which can result in alpha particles, protons, beta particles, electrons and gamma rays(electromagnetic waves). Electromagnetic radiation means that there are electrical and magnetic fields moving together at the same time and perpendicular to each other and also to the direction of propagation, when we have a magnetic field rays will lead to electrical current and the opposite is correct. Electromagnetic radiation can be natural or man-made, travel as waves and can be considered as photons, examples: light, ultra violet, infra red, radio waves, gamma rays and X-rays ( the most important for us) # What is unique about X-ray ? how can it penetrate our body? it has short wave length (distance between two crests) , high energy (can lead to ionization) and high frequency ( number of waves passing upon a specific time) *ionization: atoms having a positive charge by losing electrons and the other having a negative charge by gaining electrons this is called ion pair production. ** so we call X-ray an ionizing radiation, in conventional machine we use
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x-rays but in MRI we use radio waves bcz they are magnetic resonance images so they consedered as un ionizing radiation. X-ray properties : *X-ray was discovered by Roentgen by chance and had got a noble prize. 1- X-rays travel in straight lines 2- travels as same speed of light 6000miles/sec. 3- X-rays are invisible 4- X-rays weightless we can't see or feel 5- X-rays can show us hidden objects 6- X-rays can't be reflected , refracted or focused to a point , but it can be deflected 7- X-rays carry no electric charge so can't be deviated be the magnet 8- can result in ionization (removing of electrons, ion pair production) 9- X-ray can interact with outer shells of atoms and with thinner shells leading to different effects on cells 10- X-rays can be absorbed, scattered and attenuated 11- X-rays can result in excitation ( enforce electrons to go to a higher shells) 12- penetration because of its high energy , but it can't penetrate some materials depending on the density of the object, like lead so we use lead to protect patient and doctor during taking the graph, and also depending on the energy of the x-ray itself by changing the wave length. 13- X-rays have a photographic effect it has the same effect of light on films which is being black after chemical processing. 14- Fluorescence, X-ray causes some substances to fluoresce to emit light radiation of longer wave length to reduce the energy dose, the main benefit is in extra oral radio graph (PRG) films of PRG is placed inside a caste to protect the body from high energy level in order to xray to penetrate the body, inside the caste there is material that will fluoresce when x-ray hits it, the new light produced from this material will hit the film, when we change x-ray to light we are decreasing the dose.
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15- X-ray can cause biological damage, somatic damage (in the body itself) and genetic damage (the patient is not affected but new generations are like chernobyl normal parents having child without hands) radiation is something bad not good! whatever the small is the dose you are using it causes a genetic mutation, it can result in cancer.

principles of x-ray production How can we produce X-rays?

we need source of electrons and a target to get the photons, we need electron cloud those electron have to be accelerated to travel in high speed hitting a matter which we call the target which is tungsten, those accelerated electrons have kinetic energy when they hit the outer shells of the target atoms 99% of the kinetic energy become heat and when they hit the inner shells the rest of it (1%) becomes X-ray, we call the inner and outer hitting of the atom's shell inner and outer interaction. X-ray produced from inner interactions of electrons to the target.

Essential requirements:
1- source of electrons 2- accelerating system by having a high difference in voltage around 70000 V, in the outlet we have 220 V in Jordan however it's not enough to generate x-ray so we need to use transformers. 3- Target or matter (tungsten) which is the target to the electron to interact with

X-ray machine: Components:

1- control panel: different from company to another but mainly it has : on/off switch, timer, exposure time selector increase or decrease time, warning light, film spread selector (D speed or E speed), kilo voltage, mille ampere , time, the body (adult or young), the area (incisors or molars), dose amount (digital film needs low dose or normal films needs higher dose) it depends! Changing the time and mille ampere will affect the dose Proportionally. and also the kilo voltage in the same manner but we should notice that the quality of the image will change also, so it's better to change the time and mille ampere. Increasing the kilo voltage 50% it's like doubling the mille ampere. 2- positioning arms: support the positioning of tube head , allow for movement of the tube head and house electrical wires. 3- tube head: heavy metal contain the tube, transformer insulating oils and tube head accessories. (figure 2-12) Function of this metal housing will protect the tube and will prevent unnecessary radiation to the surroundings. The tube head is connected to the positioning
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indicating device (PID) this will shape the beam and direct the beam to area of interest The tube: target and transformers located here (figure 2-13), (figure 2-12). It contains: cathode (-ve electrode) anode (+ve electrode) anode is connected to tungsten target glass envelop : Glass house is leaded preventing x-ray from passing, and there is an unleaded window to allow x-ray to pass through. tungsten filament tungsten target connected to cupper's arm to dissipate heat like insolating oils, there is no oils inside the tube but outside it in the tube head Focusing cup focuses electrons Vacuum to prevent electron from collusions

Line focus principles

if we use the target in 90% with the electron beam we will have high focal spot but in fact we use a tilted target to decrease the focal spot; (focal spot : area of the x-ray collection or concentration) we have to get effective focal spot to increase resolution by tilting the target. doctor started explaining pic.s i could get those piece of information from it ! x-ray is generated from a point on the target when it is smaller it is more effective which could be achieved by tilting the target!! but we can't change the resolution to decrease focal spot because of heat production problem, So the only way is tilting the target.
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Cathode: producing electron beam , Anode: convert electrons into x-rays inside the tube head we can find : Insolating oils Tube head seal Aluminum disks (filtration is the main benefit allowing only the most penetrating x-ray to pass through it having short waves and high energy) lead collimator (a metal lead part will allow passage of x-ray in certain shapes we use the rectangular one because the x-ray films are rectangular this will shape the x-ray beam like the shape of the film just to cover the film by using them we can decrease divergence and scattering of the beam and the sharpness of the image) X-ray travels in straight lines but in a divergent path way PID or BID dead line cylindrical or conical extension from the metal housing, in the past they were calling it long (16 inch), intermediate (12 inch) and short (8 inch) cones depending in doctor technique, nowadays we stopped using the word cone because it's not conical shaped it's rectangular or cylindrical in shape. added filtration ( allow only high frequency high energy waves to pass) and inherent filtration (filtration by components itself) you have to differentiate between components inside the tube and tube head!

Generating system
The volt is the measure of the electrical force kilo volt means 1000 volt , kilo volt peak is the crest value of voltage, Ampere is the measurement of current numbers of electrons mille
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ampere 1/1000 ampere, mille ampere/second measure the quantity of major exposure which is the main dose. so if you want to change the quantity you have to think about mille ampere and time , if you want to change the quality you have to change kilo voltage Trans formers. a piece of metal surrounded by coils if the number of secondary coils more than primary it's called step up transformer this will increase the kilo voltage here we need high voltage to accelerate electrons moving from cathode to anode, and if the number of secondary coils less than primary it's called step down transformer we need it to decrease the voltage from 100 or 200 up to 5 kilo voltage to generate electrons and heating the filaments, also we need autotransformers to determine the kilo voltage peak and correct miner calculation in the current.

Generation of X-ray:
step down transformers will heat the filaments and generate electron cloud (thermionic emission) home work : why we use tungsten not other material as filament and target ??? step up transformer will accelerate those electrons electron hit the target and generate heat and x-rays alternating current (AC) we have positive and negative cycles in -ve ones no electrical flow there is area without x-ray generation so it's not good, the constant potential generator is the best! so we use direct current (DC) ** x-ray will not be produced without exposure other requirements for X-ray machines : advices when you buy a machine:

safe, accurate, simple, stable, easy adequate, mechanism of heat removal not less than 7 mille ampere not less than 65 kilo voltage, small focal spot, adequate filtration, digital timer sensitive move selector, error sell diagnostic system, adequate for sell services.

sry for any mistake! there is no slides for this lec. you need to read the book also :)

(( , , , )) :P :D

THE HAPPY END

Done by : Baraa'h Al-Salamat