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X-Rays - Another Form of Light
German physicist
Wilhelm Roentgen
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A new form of radiation was discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Roentgen, a German
physicist. He called it X-radiation to denote its unknown nature. This mysterious
radiation had the ability to pass through many materials that absorb visible
light. X-rays also have the ability to knock electrons loose from atoms. Over the
years these exceptional properties have made X-rays useful in many fields, such
as medicine and research into the nature of the atom.
Eventually, X-rays were found to be another form of light. Light is the
by-product of the constant jiggling, vibrating, hurly-burly of all matter.
Like a frisky puppy, matter cannot be still. The chair you are sitting in may
look and feel motionless. But if you could see down to the atomic level you would
see atoms and molecules vibrating hundreds of trillions of times a second and
bumping into each other, while electrons zip around at speeds of 25,000 miles per
hour.
When charged particles collide--or undergo sudden changes in their motion--they
produce bundles of energy called photons that fly away from the scene of the
accident at the speed of light. In fact they are light, or electromagnetic
radiation, to use the technical term. Since electrons are the lightest known
charged particle, they are most fidgety, so they are responsible for most of the
photons produced in the universe.
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X-rays can be produced by a high-speed collision
between an electron and a proton.
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