Radiation physics

Aparna sb
Part one add
1900203

ontents
INTRODUCTION

• Basics of radiation physics

• Production of X-Ray

• Types of X-Ray

• Factors affecting production of X-Ray

• Properties of X-Ray

• Interaction of X-Rays with matter

• Filtration

• Collimation

• Reference

• Conclusion
INTRODUCTIONuction
 Oral and maxillofacial radiology is defined as the specialty of dentistry and discipline of
radiology concerned with the production and interpretation of images and data produced by
all modalities of radiant energy that are used for the diagnosis and management of diseases,
disorders and conditions of the oral cavity.

Basics of radiation physics

The world is composed of matter and energy.
MATTER
Matter is anything that occupies space and has inertia.
Matter commonly exists in four states,
Solid,Liquid,Gaseous, Gel
Matter is mainly divided into two types
 Element: It is made up of single species of atoms.
 Compound: It is made up of recurring units of at- oms in definite arrangements with at least
two at- oms being different.
Molecule
.It is the smallest particle of compound.
.It is defined as two or more atoms joined by chemical bonds or smallest amount of substances
that posses its characteristics.
Atom
• Atom is the smallest particle of an element that has characteristic properties of that element

ENERGY
 In physics, energy is a property of objects, which can be transferred to other objects or
converted into different forms, but cannot be created or destroyed
 Radiation: It is defined as the transmission of energy through space and matter
It is also defined as the emission and propagation of energy through space or a
substance in the form of waves or particles. Ionizing radiation : It can be defined as radiation that
is capable of produc- ing ions by removing or adding an electron to an atom. It can be particulate
or electromagnetic radiation.

Classification of radiation
I Depending on the effect of radiation II Depending on the source of radiation
Production of X-ray

• X-Ray : these are defined as weightless bundles of energy without an electric charge that
travel in waves with the speed of light

• X-rays are produced when electron generated at the cathode strike to the tungsten target.
About 99% of energy is dissipated into heat and only 1% will convert into X-rays.

• When X-ray machine is turned on, the electric supply reaches the
X-ray tube head via the control panel

• The current of 110-220 V is reduced to 10 V by step down transformer (connected only to

filament)

• The tungsten filament starts heating till incandescent and causes thermionic emission
(emission of lon because of temperature)

• Continuous heating of filament causes the formation of electron cloud near cathode

• Now, when the exposure button is pressed

• High-voltage circuit is generated between cathode and anode by step up transformer

(connected to bath cathode and anode), which increases voltage of 110-220 V to as high as
60-100 kV
• Because of high-voltage circuit, electron from cathode will accelerate electron toward
anode. Molybdenum focusing cup will direct the electron toward target anode

• Electron strikes to tungsten target causing generation of two types of radiation

• i.e., Bremsstrahlung radiation and characteristic radiation

• About 99% of energy is dissipated into heat and only 1% will convert into X-rays

• This heat will be transferred to copper and will be absorbed by insulating oil

• The X-ray produced will emit in all direction but will be restricted by leaded glass housing

 Only few X-rays will pass from leaded glass housing via unleaded window

 Now, this X-ray which passed from unleaded window will pass through filter (blocks low-
energy photons) and collimator (controls shape and size of beam) before reaching the
patient
Types of X-Ray

Bremsstrahlung radiation

 This is a German term, which means “Braking radiation”

 Produced by the sudden stopping or slowing of electron at the target
 Most X-rays are generated in a dental X-ray machine by this process
 Produced by two either of two ways:
A) Direct hit : if a high-speed electron directly hits the nucleus of a target atom, all its kinetic
energy is transformed into a single X-ray photon The energy of the resultant photon is numerically
equal to the energy of the electron.
B) Near miss : Most electrons pass near or widely miss the nuclei. Negatively charged electron
is attracted toward the positively charged nucleus and loses some of its velocity And deceleration
causes the electron to lose some kinetic energy, given off as a-photon
Characteristic radiation

 Occurs when a high speed electron from the filament displaces an electron from an inner shell,
causing ionization of the tungsten atom

 An outer shell electron drops in to fill the void in the inner shell, emitting a photon with energy
equivalent to the difference in the orbital binding energies

 Atomic number of the target material determines the energy of the characteristic X-rays
produced.

Factors affecting production of X-Ray/ intensity of X-Ray

 Tube Current (Miliamperage-mA) : Tube current (mA) is the rate of electron flow from
filament to target and measured in miliamperes As the tube current (mA) increases ----
Increases the heating of filament ---- Increases the production of electron in cathode to
strike anode ---- Increases the quantity of X-ray production

 Exposure time (sec) : Changing the time controls the duration of the exposure and thus, the
number of photons generate Increasing time (sec) heats filament for a longer time.----
Longer the filament is heated more electrons are produced.----- Increase in quantity of X-
ray photons

 Tube voltage(kVp) : Peak kilo voltage (kVp) is the maximum voltage applied across an
X-ray tube. Increasing kVp ---- Increases potential difference between the cathode and
anode ----- Thus, increasing the speed/energy of the electrons.----- Results in increased
efficiency of conversion of electron energy into X-ray photons. ------ Thus, there will be an
increase in (a) the number of photons generated, (b) their mean energy and (c) their
maximal energy -----Increase in quantity and quality of X-rays, i.e., increasing kVp,
 Increases both number and energy of X-rays

 Filtration : Filtration is the removal of joy energy, less penetrating photons from xray beam
by placing filter in the path of X-ray beam

 It decreases both quality and quantity of X-rays after production during its path.
Source-film distance : As per Inverse Square Law, the intensity of the X-ray beam
Is inversely proportional to square of the source-film distance. Thus, as the distance
increases intensity/quantity of radiation decreases after production during its path.

Properties of X-Ray
Physical properties
Chemical properties
Biological properties
Physiochemical properties

Physical properties

• Invisibility :X-rays are invisible

• Mass : X-rays have no mass or weight

• Charge : X-rays have no charge

• Speed : X-rays travel at the speed of light, le., 3 x 10 m/s

• Type of motion : X-rays travel in waves

• Mode of transfer : They transfer energy from place to place in the form of quanta

• Wavelength : Ranges between 0.01 and 0.05 nm in length (short wavelengths)

• Propagation : X-rays propagate with the electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to each
other

• Ionization : X-rays Interact with materials they penetrate and cause lonization
 • Path of motion : X-rays travel in straight lines and can be deflected or scattered

• Divergence :X-rays cannot be focused at a point and always diverge from a point

• Penetration: X-rays can penetrate liquids, gases and solids It depends on the density of
material and wavelength

• Attenuation: It is decrease in intensity when passing through matter Due to absorption or

scattering

• Absorption : X-rays are absorbed by matter depending on the atomic structure of matter and
the wavelength of the X-ray

• Interaction with matter: X-rays Interact with matter in either of 3 ways, i.e., coherent
scattering, Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption

• Inverse square law : For a given beam, the intensity is inversely proportional to the square of
the distance from the source

• Fluorescence : X-rays can cause certain substances to fluorescence or emit radiation in longer
wavelengths

• Phosphorescence : X-ray can cause certain substance (Phosphor material in intensifying

screen) to emit light

• Thermoluminiscence : Emission of light

from heating

Chemical properties
 Colour changes,
e.g., methylene blue gets bleached.
 Chemical changes:
 X-rays can oxidize ferrous sulphate to ferric sulphate, which is used as a method of
measuring X-ray dosage.
Biological & Physiochemical properties

BIOLOGY PROPERTIES
X-ray causes ionization of biological tissues, which is
characterized in two ways, i.e.,

• Negative effect :; It can damage normal cells during radiotherapy Can cause cancer

• Positive effect : Used to treat cancer called radiotherapy

PHYSIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES
The Photographic effect: Photographic paper of film when exposed to X-rays and
developed will be found blackened called radiolucency.

INTERACTION OF X-RAYS WITH MATTER

• As the beam goes through the patient, it is reduced in intensity. This attenuation results from
absorption of individual photons in the beam by atoms in the tissues or by photons being
scattered out of the beam

• The interactions is either absorption or scattering

• In a dental X-ray beam, there are three means of beam attenuation:

Coherent scattering -7%,Photoelectric absorption -27% ,Compton scattering -57%

• In addition, about 9% of the primary photons.pass through the patient without interaction and
strike the film to form an image.

Coherent scattering/Classical, Elastic/Thompson scattering

 Significance : It leads to minimal contribution to scatter.
 Mechanism : The incident photon interacts with the outer shell electron Causing it to become
momentarily excited The excited electron then returns to the ground state and generates
another X-ray photon with the same frequency and energy as in the incident beam, which
divert at different direction
PHOTOELECTRIC ABSORPTION
 About 27% of photons incident from a dental X-ray beams are reduced by photoelectric.
absorption.
 Significance – It forms the basis of radiographic image formation
 Mechanism : Occurs when an incident X-ray beam displaces an electron from an inner shell
causing vacancy An outer shell electron drops in to fill the void in the inner shell, emitting a
photon with energy equivalent to the difference in the orbital binding energies

COMPTON SCATTERING

• Significance It leads to maximum scattering of the radiation.

 • About 57% of the photons that are absorbed from a dental X-ray beam are absorbed by this
process.

• Mechanism : Compton scattering occurs when the incident photon collides with an outer
electron This interaction causes production of incident photon ion into different directions
and ejection of recoil electron from target atom Intensity of scattered photon = Intensity of
incident photon- (Kinetic energy gained by outer electron + Its binding energy)

FILTER/

FILTRATION
 Filter is that component of X-ray machine, which removes low-energy X-rays
 Low-energy X-rays can penetrate only through superficial tissue and have no use in making
image.

 Low-energy X-rays also causes unwanted absorption of these rays in patients

 So ,filter is used to remove these low-energy X-rays. Decreasing patient exposure with no loss
of radiographic information

 Types : -- Inherent : these are inbuilt components in tube head, acts in the way of X-ray,
passing from focal spot till exit of tube head. Inherent filters should be equivalent to 0.5-1.0
mm of aluminium.
-- Added/ External : It consists of aluminium discs placed over the exit port of the tube head.
Added filter should be 1-1.5 mm of aluminium
-- Total filtration : Inherent + added= Total filtration.

COLLIMATOR/COLLIMATION
 Collimation is the method to control size and shape of The X-ray beam
 A collimator is a metallic barrier with a window used to reduce the size of the X-ray beam
 Made of Lead
  Functions : Controls the size and shape of beam, thus decreases patient exposure
By limiting the size of the X-ray beam, we can also improve image quality by reducing the
scatter radiation.

TYPES

 Diaphragm / round collimator : It is disc made of lead with a central round aperture.

 Tubular : It is a round tube lined or constructed with lead along with diaphragm collimator
at inner end.

 Rectangular : Same as tubular collimator, but rectangular in shape.

 Rectangular position indicating device also act as collimator.

 It is better than tubular collimator as it allow lesser divergence.

 Slit collimator : Consist of small long vertical aperture for the exposure of both maxilla
and mandible
Mandible

 Used in panoramic radiography machine.

REFERENCE
 Textbook of oral medicine and radiology --Peeyush shivhare Volume 2
 Textbook of oral medicine and Radiology --- ongole

CONCLUSION
 The use of X-rays is an integral part of clinical dentistry, with some form of radiographic
examination necessary on the majority of patients.

 As a result, radiographs are often referred to as the clinician’s main diagnostic aid