UEMB3244 – Medical Imaging Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

TUTORIAL 3

1. State the properties of artifacts.

2. Ultraviolet light has wavelengths in the range of 4-400 nanometers. Determine the frequency
range of the ultraviolet light.

3. An electron is accelerated between a cathode and anode held at a 120kV potential difference.
What is the kinetic energy and speed of the electron when it slams into anode? Given m = 9.11
x 10-31 kg, 1 eV = 1.60217733 x 10-19 J and 1 J = 1 kg m2/s2.

4. If the exposure at d = 30cm from a point source is 1 R, what is the exposure at d = 5cm from
the source?

5. A monoenergetic x-ray source that emits photons with wavelength 8.9 x 10-2 angstroms is used.
Calculate the energy of the source x-ray photon. [1 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑚 = 10−10 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟, 1 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒 =
6.241 × 1015 𝐾𝑒𝑉].

6. Calculate the thickness of shielding material needed to block out 99.5 percent of the incident
radiation for a material with linear attenuation coefficient, .

7. Describe Compton Scattering and its effects on image.

8. Explain why radiation with energy smaller than 13.6eV is not considered ionizing.

9. Consider a chest x-ray at an energy of 20keV. If the absorbed dose has to be kept below 10
mrads, what should be the limit on the exposure, ignoring the tissues other than the lung? Given
(𝜇/𝜌)𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 0.78 cm2/g and (𝜇/𝜌)𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑔 = 0.83 cm2/g.

10. Consider the case of hand x-ray imaging. Assume that hand consists of only bone and muscle
and the weighting factors for the bone and the muscle in the hand are 𝑤𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒 = 𝑤𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑐𝑙𝑒 =
0.002. What is the effective dose for an exposure of X=1 roentgen for x-rays at 20keV? For x-
ray at 20 keV, Q ~= 1 and the x-ray mass attenuation coefficients are given in the table below.
UEMB3244 – Medical Imaging Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

11. For radiography systems operating above 70kVp, the National Council on Radiation Protection
and Measurements (NCRP) recommends a minimum filtration of 2.5mm Al/Eq. Such filtration
reduces high and low energy x-rays but requires longer exposure time to properly expose the
x-ray film. The overall dose to the patient is reduced because of the reduction of low-energy
x-rays that are absorbed by the patient. At 80kVp, what thickness of copper would provide
2.5mm Al/Eq of filtration?

Given, the mass attenuation coefficient of aluminum at 80 kVp is μ/ρ = 0.02015 m2/kg, the
density of aluminum is ρ = 2699 kg/m3, the mass attenuation coefficient of copper at 80 kVp
is μ/ρ = 0.07519 m2/kg and the density of copper is ρ = 8960 kg/m3.

12. Suppose an acceptable chest radiograph is taken using an exposure = 30 mAs at peak kilo-
voltage = 80 kVp from 1m. Let’s assume that it is now requested another one to be taken at
1.5 m at 80 kVp.

What exposure setting should be used in the latter so that both conditions have the same
intensity at the detector?

13. Suppose a chest x-ray is taken at 2 yards using 14 inch by 17 inch film. What will be the
smallest ratio, Id/I0, across the film (assume no object attenuation)?

14. Suppose 20 percent of the incident x-ray photons have been scattered in a certain material
before they arrive at detectors. What is the scatter-to-primary ratio?