Nucleons described nucleus

Exponential decay from point source in vacuum for xray and gamma rays
(alpha and beta have fixed distances)
Not all nuclides are radioactive. And some need more description eg
Tc99metastable.
Imagine rely on xray and gamma ray, not beta or alpha

Decay constant is probability of the decay of an atomic nucleus per unit
time

Half life = loge2/decay constant
Mean lifetime = 1.44 of half life.

Radioactivity not affected by physical or chemical changes
M shell = 18, L = 8, K = 2

Energy = hf, where h is Plank's constant.

Microwaves are low frequency electromagnetic radiation, and the energy is
not sufficient to produce ionization of water. X-rays and gamma rays are
ionizing.

The inverse square law only applies to a point source for electromagnetic
radiation. While the focal spot is technically not a point source, it is small
enough that the inverse square law can be applied with reasonable
accuracy.

Energy fluence is the sum of the energies. Photon fluence is the number of
photons.

This is the wavelength for blue light. X-rays have a wavelength of 1 nm or
less.

Protons and neutrons have a relative mass of 1, electrons have a relative
mass of 0.0054.

Atomic number is equal to the number of protons; mass number is equal to
the number of protons plus neutrons.

The valence shell is the outermost electron shell. Being furthest from the
nucleus, attraction is weaker and so binding energy is lower.

A loose valence shell electron in metals enables conductivity.

The maximum is 2.

The photoelectric effect is initiated when a photon or electron ejects a
bound electron from an atom if the energy of the former is greater than the
binding energy of the electron.

The probability of photoelectric interaction occurring decreases markedly
as photon energy of the radiation increases, being inversely proportional to
the cube of the photon energy.

This is a total absorption process hence scattered radiation outside the
body is not due to this event. However, the characteristic X-rays produced
during this process may be sufficiently energetic to leave the patient body
(for example from barium and iodine) and may act like Compton scattered
rays.

The probability of photoelectric interactions in lead is higher due to its high
atomic number. Since this is a total absorption process, the individual
wearing a lead containing protective device is safe from being exposed to
radiation.

Part of the incident photon energy is expended in removing the electron
from the atom. This equals to the binding energy of the shell involved in
the process. The remainder becomes the kinetic energy of the
photoelectron.

Intensity equals total photon energy in cross section per unit time.
Removal of the characteristic rays would mean fewer photons.

According to the inverse square law; if you double your distance, the area
of the beam increases by four times, i.e. the intensity is reduced by 4. In
the example given the distance is doubled twice, so intensity is reduced to
one-sixteenth. Intensity is defined as energy transmitted per unit area.

There is some attenuation in air but this is very low compared with the
effect of the inverse square law.

The operating kV is equal to the maximum photon energy possible; most
photons will not be as energetic

Clinical X-ray beams are not monoenergetic; lower energy photons are
more readily attenuated, so the beam intensity increases as it penetrates,
thereby also increasing the HVL.

The chance of the photoelectric effect is related to Z
3
/E
3
. In the human
body at diagnostic X-ray levels the photoelectric effect occurs mainly at
lower photon keV or with high atomic number contrast agents such as
barium.

In soft tissue interacting with a 30 keV beam approximately half the
interactions will be Compton effect and half will be photoelectric. At lower
keV the photoelectric effect predominates. At higher keV the Compton
effect predominates.

Pair production does not occur with photon energies of less than 1 MeV,
and thus does not occur in diagnostic radiology.

The electron can be scattered only forward or at angles of up to 90.

At very high photon energies the Compton effect begins to diminish, but at
diagnostic radiology photon energies the Compton effect can be viewed as
only dependent on the electron density, which is related to the density of
the tissue.


This occurs to a greater or lesser extent in different tissues; it is these
differences in attenuation that allow us to see anatomic detail using X-rays.

Hardening of the beam occurs when the beam is composed of a spectrum
of wavelengths. The process of hardening occurs when lower energy
photons are absorbed first, leaving more penetrating photons that will
travel further through tissue. THEREFORE NOT IN MONOENERGETIC
BEAMS

Digital radiography uses tubes of the same type of design as conventional
radiography, where a spectrum or X-ray energies are produced with the
maximum energy being set by the peak kilovoltage of an X-ray tube (kVp).

Linear attenuation coefficient () = 0.693/HVL.

The reduction in the number of photons is exponential, and therefore never
truly reaches zero. The intensity of the emerging beam can be calculated
by I = I
0
e
d
where I is intensity, I
0
is initial intensity, is the attenuation
coefficient and d is the thickness of material.

99% of the incident electron energy is converted to heat, the rest to X-rays.

One is the tube potential used to accelerate electrons (high kV, low
current), the other flows through the filament to liberate electrons (low kV,
high current).

Ripple is generally no greater than 2%.

Characteristic energy values are equal to the difference in binding energy
of the electron shells involved.

For molybdenum, K

photons have energy of 17.5 keV, while K

have
energy of approximately 20 keV. This compares with energies of 58 and
68 keV for tungsten.


Compton interaction occurs between photons and loosely bound orbital
electrons. A Compton interaction results in scattered photon that has less
energy than that of incident photon, and that travels in a new direction. The
scattered photons may participate in additional tissue interactions or reach
the image receptor and degrade image quality.

It is interaction between incident photon and tightly bound electrons. The
photoelectric interaction occurs when a photon is totally absorbed by an
inner shell electron and an electron is ejected. As a result of the
photoelectric emission, a positive ion is formed.

Pair production occurs when a high energy photon interacts with the
nucleus leading to production of matter and anti-matter.

Coherent elastic interaction. It occurs when a low energy X-ray photon
excites an atom and passes through without any net energy transfer to the
atom.

The energy threshold of photonuclear disintegration is approximately 15
MeV. This occurs when a high energy photon is absorbed by a nucleus
resulting in immediate disintegration.

Though the velocity in air may differ, all electromagnetic waves travel with
the same velocity as light when in a vacuum.

They are transverse waves; the electric and magnetic field vectors point at
right angles to each other and to the direction of travel of the wave.

The only difference between these two electromagnetic waves is their site
of origin.

Only charged particles like alpha, beta, electrons, etc. are directly ionizing.

Electromagnetic radiation having sufficient energy to remove an orbital
electron from an atom is called ionizing radiation. Not all electromagnetic
radiation is ionizing, e.g. visible light, radio-waves, etc.

No valence shell can have more than eight electrons.

Valence shell electrons are concerned with the physical, chemical and
thermal properties of an atom. X-rays involve inner shell electrons and
radioactivity is due to unstable nucleus.

Most metals have one, two or three valence shell electrons, one of which is
easily detached from it and is called free. This is the reason behind metals
being good conductors of heat and electricity.

An element can have different mass numbers but they always have the
same atomic number.

They are collectively called nucleons.

The binding energy is the amount of work required to remove an electron
from its shell in an atom. The binding energy of inner shell electrons is
large and that of outer shell electrons is small. K shell binding energy
increases with the atomic number of an element.

The closer a shell to the nucleus of an atom, the higher the binding energy
of the electrons orbiting the shell.

It is normally expressed in electron volts.

Tungseten: It is 70 keV. The binding energy is never greater than 100 keV.

An atom is excited when an electron is raised from one shell to another
farther out. This involves expenditure of energy; the atom as a whole has
more energy than normal and is hence said to be excited.

Atomic number is the number in the periodic table, defined by the number
of protons. Atomic mass number is the number of protons plus the number
of neutrons.

Electrons exist at different energy levels described as shells of decreasing
energy.

It will take the same amount of energy to dislodge a K-shell electron for
different atoms of the same element, but the K-shell electrons and L-shell
electrons within the same atom will have different energy levels.

Examples of nucleons are protons and neutrons. A nucleus is all the
protons plus neutrons of one atom. In hydrogen the single proton is the
only nucleon, and thus the nucleon and the nucleus would be the same
size.

The nucleus comprises positive protons and neutral neutrons. Negative
electrons exist outside the nucleus.

Beta emission has a continuous spectrum of energies up to a maximum,
Emax, which is characteristic of the radionuclide. The average emission is
about Emax/3.

In beta plus decay, a proton inside a nucleus is converted into neutron and
the excess energy is released as a positively-charged electron. Positrons
being antimatter have a very brief existence and when combined with an
electron annihilate each other to release two photons of 511 keV travelling
in opposite directions.

If the daughter nucleus is left in an excited state following electron capture
and release of characteristic X-rays, it will also emit gamma rays. For
example iodine-123 decays wholly by electron capture releasing
characteristic X-rays as well as gamma rays.

Both of these decay modes occur in neutron-deficient radioisotopes and
hence may compete with each other. In electron capture, a proton inside
the nucleus is converted into a neutron by capturing an orbital electron. A
neutrino is also emitted. In this process, the atomic number decreases by
one but the mass number stays the same.

Because alpha particles are heavy, they are a low risk external radiation
source, but pose a major risk if ingested or injected.

In a nuclear reactor, an additional neutron is forced into a stable nucleus,
hence they are usually neutron rich and decay principally by the beta
minus decay process.

As they have the same atomic numbers, the nuclides produced at a
nuclear reactor cannot be separated from their parent stable nucleus and
hence cannot be made carrier-free.

The excess neutron is converted to a proton and an electron. The electron
is ejected from the nucleus with high energy.

The atomic number of the nucleus stays the same, but its mass number
will be higher than its parent stable nucleus.

Unlike cyclotron produced radionuclides, the product has a reasonable
half-life. Because neutrons are added, activated materials tend to lie above
the line of stability, and thus to decay by electron emission.

The Compton effect describes scatter, with a resulting recoil electron and
scattered lower energy photon.

This describes the photoelectric effect.

Although the term free electrons is used, it refers to any electron with a
binding energy much lower than that of the incident photon.

The Compton effect is proportional to the density of electrons, which is
approximately proportional to the density of the tissue. The photoelectric
effect is proportional to Z
3
/E
3
.

The mass attenuation coefficient is already divided by the density of the
tissue meaning the effect of density has been cancelled out. Also, the
Compton effect is not proportional to atomic number. The linear
attenuation coefficient of bone would be higher than that of soft tissue as
the physical density, and thus the electron density is higher.

X-ray beams used clinically are not monoenergetic. After one HVL the
lower energy photons will have been preferentially removed and the beam
will now be more penetrating. The second HVL of this beam will therefore
be greater.

The mass attenuation coefficient is obtained by dividing the linear
attenuation coefficient by density; this makes it independent of density and
relates only to atomic number and photon energy.

Also known as coherent or Rayleigh scatter, this process refers to an
interaction where a photon is deflected from a bound electron which is not
ejected from the atom and therefore no ionizing events occur. For
diagnostic energies, the probability of this effect is small compared to that
of the Compton and photoelectric effects.

The energy taken up by the photoelectron is absorbed very close (within
~1 m) of the site of interaction.

The photoelectric effect is proportional to Z
3
/E
3
and is therefore more
likely when low energy clinical beams interact with relatively high density
contrast media.

Within the range of photon energies encountered in the diagnostic
radiology the energy of the deflected photon will always be greater than
two-thirds of the energy of the incident photons. The scattered radiation
from the Compton effect therefore has an energy similar to that of the
primary beam and is a serious risk to the operator of a screening unit.

The probability of the Compton interaction is dependent on the electron
density of the object under investigation. Compton interaction is
proportional to the photon energy. Scattered photons may move in any
direction. As the angle of deflection decreases, the energy retained by the
scattered photons increases.

The probability of the Compton interaction does not depend on atomic
number of the tissue. Photoelectric interaction is higher with higher atomic
number of the tissue in question.

The physical density, electron density and energy of the incident photon
beams influence the probability of the Compton interaction.

The K shell binding energy of the electrons of all the common soft tissue
elements is less than 1 keV. These electrons are therefore functionally free
in the photon range of diagnostic X-rays and are available for Compton
interactions.

X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, i.e. they may be depicted
as perpendicular oscillating electric and magnetic fields.

The energy of an X-ray beam is equal to the product of Planck's constant
and its frequency.

Photons may interact with matter according to the quantum theory (e.g.
photoelectric effect) or the wave theory (e.g. coherent scattering) of the
electromagnetic radiation.

The wavelength of diagnostic X-rays is in the region of 10
10
to 10
11
m.

The frequency of an X-ray photon is equal to the speed of light divided by
the wavelength of that photon.

Atomic number is the same but mass number is different for isotopes.
They have the same chemical properties and occupy the same position in
a periodic table.

Isotopes have a different number of neutrons, mass number, density and
other physical properties. Different chemical properties as electrons same

This is the definition of an isobar. Same mass

There is no difference in the number of electrons, and hence electron
shells, in isotopes; so when they emit characteristic X-rays, they have the
same energies.

The only difference between the isomers is the amount of energy they
possess, so during isomeric transition there is release of this excess
energy without any change in mass of atomic number of the radionuclide.

Lead (Pb) has an atomic number of 82. Tungsten (W) has an atomic
number of 74.

The K-edge of barium is high enough that the photoelectric effect
predominates in barium screening.

The K-edge of Ca is 4 keV. Common elements in the body have a low K-
edge which is why the Compton effect predominates at the higher end of
the diagnostic energy range.

This is much higher than diagnostic X-ray energies. Gamma rays are
140keV

With a higher atomic number than soft tissue, the K-edge of iodine is also
higher. The photoelectric effect therefore predominates at diagnostic X-ray
energies; this makes it suitable as a contrast agent. BARIUM

In quantum mechanics, electromagnetic radiation is regarded as stream of
packets or quanta of energy called photons travelling in a straight line.

Ultraviolet rays are of higher frequency electromagnetic radiation than
visible light. The higher the frequency, the greater the energy of the quanta
of that radiation.

Energy is proportional to the frequency and inversely proportional to the
wavelength of radiation.

Quanta may behave as waves or particles but have no mass.

Photons or quanta are proportional to the frequency, and the
proportionality constant is called Planck's constant.

X and gamma rays are indirectly ionizing; the secondary electrons
(photoelectrons or those reflected in the Compton effect) form ion pairs
along their path through a material. By contrast, alpha and beta particles
ionize directly.

This is of very low energy and usually absorbed immediately, often with the
release of a further Auger electron. Characteristic radiation from
photoelectric

The photoelectric effect is inversely proportional to E
3
.

Ideally just below the mean beam energy - K edge filters

This is the principle behind an ionization chamber.

Mass attenuation coefficients are independent of the density (physical
state) of the absorber to which they pertain, but do depend on the number
of the electrons per gram of the particular absorber.

Linear attenuation coefficients are a function of photon energy.

The linear attenuation coefficient of an absorber is equal to the product of
the mass attenuation coefficient and density of that absorber and
increases in the order of fat
In diagnostic radiology, attenuation decreases with increasing photon
energy except at K edges.

Water has only 2% more electrons per cubic centimetre than fat and
therefore when Compton interaction dominates there is an insufficient
difference in the attenuation between the two for them to be differentiated
on a plain radiograph.

Bremsstrahlung can be translated as braking energy, referring to the
slowing of the bombarding electron. The electron is slowed by its passage
close to the nucleus and gives off the reduction in kinetic energy as
electromagnetic radiation.

Thermionic emission occurs in the filament of the cathode. This is the
method by which electrons are emitted for acceleration to the target.

Electrons are produced at the negative cathode and accelerate towards
the positive anode, where they can react with the target atoms to produce
X-rays.

When the electrons hit atoms in the anode they can produce X-rays either
through the Bremsstrahlung process or can knock a K-shell electron out of
its orbit thus allowing an L- or M-shell electron to drop down and produce
characteristic radiation.

Typically less than 1% of the energy is converted to useful X-ray radiation.

The photoelectric effect cannot occur unless the photon has more energy
than the binding energy of the electron. The photoelectric effect is at its
maximum when the photon energy is just greater than the K-edge.

The ejection of the photoelectron leaves a gap in the inner shell. An
electron falling from an outer shell may give up some energy as
characteristic radiation as it moves to a lower energy state.

The high energy nature of this process causes that atom to become
ionized, and the photoelectron continues on and collides to cause many
more ionizations. As so many more ionization events are caused indirectly
by the subsequent photoelectrons and Compton electrons, the direct
biological damage from photon interactions is relatively small.

The photoelectric effect is proportional to Z
3
/E
3
, and thus decreases with
increasing photon energies.

The energy of the incident photon is used to break the binding energy of
the electron; its remaining energy is transferred to the photoelectron.

Most of the lower energy photons are absorbed either within the target, the
tube wall or in the filter.

K

emission is emission of characteristic radiation after an electron falls
from the L-shell to the K-shell. K

emission occurs after an electron falls
from the M-shell to the K-shell. Do not confuse K

with an alpha particle.

The energy of the photon and thus the wavelength and frequency (E = hf)
is related to the energy difference of the electron between the shell it
moves from and to.

L-shell characteristic radiation is low energy radiation (~10 keV in the case
of tungsten) that is unlikely to penetrate through the filter.

Beta particles travel only very short distances and thus cannot be used for
imaging. Beta particle emitters are sometimes used for therapy, e.g.
thyroid ablation.

The outermost (lowest energy) layer is known as the valence band. The
conduction band is the adjacent, higher energy band. On excitation of a
phosphor, electrons in the valence band are energized and promoted to
the conduction band.

Between the valence band and conduction band is the forbidden zone.
Impurities in the phosphor (deliberately manufactured in this way) contain
electron bands which lie within the forbidden zone. Excited electrons which
fall into these electron traps subsequently move to the valence band with
the release of light energy. This is the basis of photoluminescence.

The energy absorbed is also proportional to the intensity of the beam itself.

Computed radiography uses photostimulable phosphor plates. The
detector plate is stimulated by light, usually a laser, to allow image
formation.

Optical stimulated luminescent dosimeters give readings down to
0.01 mSv. Unlike thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLDs), they can also be
read more than once because not all electrons are released at the first
reading by the scanning laser beam.