X-ray room

[smiles]

Could you tell me why X-ray rooms usually have wall covered by Pb (I mean lead) ?

Thanks !

[tomgwyther]

Because Pb is very dense and X-rays have difficulty passing through it,

Lead is also worn by the person taking the X-ray to protect them from constant exposure.

[YT2095]

as is the Glass, either Lead or Uranium doped (think Lead Crystal).

[smiles]

Because Pb is very dense and X-rays have difficulty passing through it

So where X-ray goes next ?

Thanks !

[insane_alien]

the X-rays get absorbed. they get converted into heat.

[John Cuthber]

Uranium glass is very pretty and can be used for measuring xrays (by it's fluorescence) but I doubt it's ever used to block them.

Unless the windows were bright orange there wouldn't be enough uranium to do any usefull blocking.

 

Incidentally they don't use lead because it's dense- (it isn't particularly dense silver is roughly as dense even though the atoms it's made from weigh about half as much and even steel is about 2/3 as dense) it's used because it has a high atomic number so it has lots of electrons to scatter the Xrays.

[smiles]

If a patient contacts too much with X-rays, what happens to him(her) ?

Thanks !

[YT2095]

it depends on how you quantify "Too Much".

 

but it`s safe to say they would get quite sick, and suffer damage on a molecular/genetic level.

[insane_alien]

If a patient contacts too much with X-rays, what happens to him(her) ?

Thanks !

 

generic radiation sickness. the severity of which would depend on the absorbed dose.

 

in a medical x-ray procedure his is pretty much impossible. it's only people who are going to be exposed hundreds of times a day that really need to be sheilded(hence the lead walls, aprons and such.

[imp]

Duration of exposure is important. Medical x-ray "photos" use very short, comparatively, exposure times, typically less than 1 second; dental sometimes more. The "fluoroscope" exposes one to the x-ray beam as long as it is "on", possibly 30 seconds, or more, depending on procedure.

 

Now, here in the U.S. until the 1950's, there had been in general use, fluoroscopes, which were installed in, of all places, stores selling footware! As a kid, we always stuck our feet into the box, while the salesperson operated the machine, and all could peer at the wiggling toe bones, nails in shoes, etc., as long as we cared to, all the while being exposed to the beam of radiation passing through our eyes, heads, and so on. These devices were finally banned by the states, individually. Voltage used ranged from 90,000 to 110,000 volts, which produced some pretty "hard" rays. Long term damage done? Never really assessed, to my knowledge.

 

Anyone remember them, or have heard of them?

 

see: http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm

[x ray]

yes i have heard of them. they're called shoe fitting fluoroscopes and where very dangerouse. they put out 20-75 Rems a minite. the maximum dose for nuclear power plant workers is 5 Rems per year.