X-rays help doctors visualize internal structures to aid in diagnosis.
X-ray machines are common in doctors' offices and emergency rooms, because they offer physicians a noninvasive way to examine internal bodily structures like bones. X-ray machines use x-ray radiation to produce images of these internal structures.
Electromagnetic Radiation
X-ray machines use electromagnetic radiation, not sound waves. There is a fundamental difference between these two types of waves. Sound is a mechanical wave transmitted by matter through the motions and collisions of molecules. Electromagnetic radiation is a self-propagating wave composed of electric and magnetic fields; it does not need matter to propagate.
Field Components
X-rays and other forms of electromagnetic radiation have an electric field component and a magnetic field component. When an electric field oscillates, it generates a magnetic field at right angles to the electric field. The oscillating magnetic field in turn generates an oscillating electric field. Because electromagnetic radiation has both wave-like properties and particle-like properties, scientists describe it in terms of discrete "packets" of energy called photons.
Frequency and Wavelength
Like any wave, electromagnetic radiation has both frequency and wavelength. The frequency times the wavelength equals the speed; the speed of light (and all other electromagnetic radiation) in a vacuum is a fundamental constant of the universe. Different forms of electromagnetic radiation, like radio waves and microwaves, have different wavelengths and frequencies. X-rays have a much higher frequency than visible light, and hence more energy.
Tags: electromagnetic radiation, electric field, magnetic field, X-ray machines, electromagnetic radiation both, field component
