PHOTONS were first described by the ancient identified as cycles per second.

Greeks. - The unit of measurement is the hertz (Hz).

photons are known as electromagnetic Energy - One hertz is equal to 1 cycle per second.
Electromagnetic energy is present everywhere and exists over - The frequency is equal to the number of crests
a wide energy range. X-rays, visible light, and or the number of valleys that pass the point of an observer per
radiofrequencies are examples of electromagnetic energy. unit of time

The properties of electromagnetic energy include frequency,

wavelength, velocity, and amplitude -
- The wavelength is the distance from one crest to
The wave equation and the inverse square law another, from one valley to another, or from any
are mathematical formulas that further describe how point on the sine wave to the next corresponding
electromagnetic energy behaves point.

The wave-particle duality of electromagnetic energy

is introduced as wave theory and quantum theory.

PHOTONS
- Ever present all around us is a field or state of energy
called electromagnetic energy.
- This energy exists over a wide range called an energy
continuum.
- A continuum is an uninterrupted (continuous) ordered
sequence.
- photon is the smallest quantity of any type of
electromagnetic energy.

- -
- Late in the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell - Three wave parameters—velocity, frequency, and
showed that visible light has both electric and wavelength—are needed to describe electromagnetic energy.
magnetic properties, hence the term electromagnetic - The relationship among these parameters is
energy. important. A change in one affects the value of the others.
VELOCITY & AMPLITUDE - Velocity is constant.
- Photons are energy disturbances that move through
space at the speed of light (c).
- Speed of light 3 × 108 m/s. -
- Although photons have no mass and therefore no WAVE EQUATION
identifiable form, they do have electric and magnetic
fields that are continuously changing in a sinusoidal
fashion.
- Physicists use the term field to describe interactions
-
among different energies, forces, or masses that can
- The wave equation is used for both sound and
otherwise be described only mathematically
electromagnetic energy.
- When dealing with electromagnetic energy, we can
- simplify the wave equation because all such energy
- Sine waves can be described by a mathematical travels with the same velocity.
formula and therefore have many applications in
physics.
- Sine waves are variations of amplitude over time -
- The product of frequency and wavelength always
equals the velocity of light for electromagnetic
energy.
- - Stated differently, for electromagnetic energy,
FREQUENCY & WAVELENGTH frequency and wavelength are inversely
- The sine wave model of electromagnetic energy proportional.
describes variations in the electric and magnetic - The following are alternative forms of the
fields as the photon travels with velocity c. electromagnetic wave equation.
- The important properties of this model are
frequency, represented by f, and wavelength,
represented by the Greek letter lambda (λ)
-
- As the frequency of electromagnetic energy
increases, the wavelength decreases and vice versa.
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
- The frequency range of electromagnetic energy
extends from approximately 102 to 1024 Hz.
- The photon wavelengths associated with these
radiations are approximately 107 to 10−16 m,
respectively.
- This wide range of values covers many types of
electromagnetic energy, most of which are familiar to
us. Grouped together, these
types of energy make up the electromagnetic
spectrum.

- -

- The rate of rise and fall is frequency. It is usually

 - The known electromagnetic spectrum has three - Infrared light heats any substance on which it shines.
regions most important to radiologic science: visible It may be considered radiant heat
light, x and gamma radiation , and RF - Ultraviolet light is located in the electromagnetic
- Other portions of the spectrum include ultraviolet spectrum between visible light and ionizing radiation. It
light, infrared light, and microwave radiation. is responsible for molecular interactions that can result in
- Ultrasound is not produced in photon form and does sunburn.
not have a constant velocity.
- Ultrasound is a wave of moving molecules. RADIOFREQUENCY
- Ultrasound requires matter; electromagnetic energy - Radiofrequency covers a considerable portion of the
can exist in a vacuum. electromagnetic spectrum. RF has relatively low
energy and relatively long wavelength.
- Very-short-wavelength RF is microwave radiation
- - Microwaves have many uses, such as cellular
MEASUREMENT OF THE ELECTROMAGENTIC telephone communication, highway speed
SPECTRUM monitoring, medical diathermy, and hotdog
- The electromagnetic spectrum shown in Figure 3-6 preparation.
contains three different scales, one each for energy, IONIZING RADIATION
frequency, and wavelength. Because the velocity of - Different from RF or visible light, ionizing
all electromagnetic energy is constant, the electromagnetic energy usually is characterized by
wavelength and frequency are inversely related. the energy contained in a photon.
- An x-ray photon contains considerably more energy
-
than a visible light photon or an RF photon.
- The frequency of x-radiation is much higher and the
wavelength much shorter than for other types of
electromagnetic energy.
- It is sometimes said that gamma rays have higher
energy than x-rays. In the early days of radiology,
this was true because of the limited capacity of
available x-ray imaging systems.
- Today, linear accelerators make it possible to
produce x-rays of considerably higher energies than
gamma ray emissions. Consequently, the distinction
by energy is not appropriate.

-
- X-rays are emitted from the electron cloud of an atom
that has been stimulated artificially

- ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than violet

light and cannot be sensed by the eye.
- visible light is described by wavelength, measured in
nanometers (nm).
- the unit of frequency, the hertz, is used to describe
radio wave - Gamma rays, on the other hand, come from inside the
- x-rays are described in terms of a unit of energy, the nucleus of a radioactive atom
electron volt (eV).

-
VISIBLE LIGHT
- An optical physicist describes visible light in terms of
wavelength.
- -
- Whereas x-rays are produced in diagnostic imaging
systems, gamma rays are emitted spontaneously from
radioactive material.

-
- Although photons of visible light travel in straight
- lines, their course can be deviated when they pass
from one transparent medium to another. This
deviation in line of travel, called refraction, is the
cause of many peculiar but familiar phenomena, such
as a rainbow or the apparent bending of a straw in a
glass of water.
- The component colors of white light have wavelength
values ranging from approximately 400 nm for violet
to 700 nm for red.
- Visible light occupies the smallest segment of the
electromagnetic spectrum, and yet it is the only
portion that we can sense directly.
- Sunlight also contains two types of invisible light:
infrared and ultraviolet.
- Infrared light consists of photons with wavelengths
longer than those of visible light but shorter than
those of microwaves.
 - Examples of transmission, absorption, and
attenuation of light are equally easy to identify
- When light waves are absorbed, the energy
deposited in the absorber reappears as heat.
- There are three degrees of interaction between
light and an absorbing material: transparency,
translucency, and opacity

WAVE PARTICLE DUALITY

- A photon of x-radiation and a photon of visible light
- are fundamentally the same except that x-radiation
has
- much higher frequency, and hence a shorter
wavelength
- Visible-light photons tend to behave more like waves
-
than particles
- The opposite is true of x-ray photons, which behave - The terms radiopaque and radiolucent are used
more like particles than waves routinely in x-ray diagnosis to describe the visual
- both types of photons exhibit both types of behavior appearance of anatomical structures.
— a phenomenon known as the wave-particle duality - Structures that absorb x-rays are called
of electromagnetic energy. radiopaque. Structures that transmit x-rays are
called radiolucent

-
- Radio and TV waves, whose wavelengths are
measured in meters, interact with metal rods or wires
called antennas.
- Microwaves, whose wavelengths are measured in
centimeters, interact most easily with objects of the
same size, such as hotdogs and hamburgers.
- The wavelength of visible light is measured in
nanometers (nm)
- visible light interacts with living cells, such as the
rods and cones of the eye.
- Ultraviolet light interacts with molecules, and x-rays
interact with electrons and atoms.
- All radiation with wavelength longer than those of x-
radiation interacts primarily as a wave phenomenon.
-
- - bone is radiopaque, lung tissue and to some
WAVE MODEL: VISIBLE LIGHT extent soft tissue are radiolucent.
- The visible-light spectrum extends from short INVERSE SQUARE LAW
wavelength violet radiation through green and yellow - This decrease in intensity is inversely
to long-wavelength red radiation. proportional to the square of the distance of the
- On either side of the visible-light spectrum are object from the source. Mathematically, this is
ultraviolet light and infrared light. Neither can be
called the inverse square law and is expressed
detected by the human eye, but they can be detected
by other means, such as a photographic as follows.
emulsion. -
- Visible light interacts with matter very differently
from x-rays.

-
- With these water waves, the difference in wavelength
is proportional to the energy introduced into the
system.
- With light, the opposite is true: The shorter the
photon wavelength, the higher is the photon energy

- Visible light can similarly interact with matter.

- Reflection from the silvered surface of a mirror is
common.
 - - The constant of proportionality, known as
Planck’s constant and symbolized by h, has a
numeric value of 4.15 × 10−15 eVs or 6.63 ×
10−34 Js.
-
-

- To apply the inverse square law, you must know

three of the four parameters, which consist of
two distances and two intensities -

PARTICLE MODEL: QUANTUM THEORY

- In contrast to other portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum, x-rays are usually
identified by their energy, measured in electron
volts (eV).
- X-ray energy ranges from approximately 10 keV -
- to 50 MeV. The associated wavelength for this
range of x-radiation is approximately 10−10 to - photon energy is inversely proportional to
10−14 m. photon wavelength.
- The frequency of these photons ranges from - Planck’s constant and the speed of light.
approximately 1018 to 1022 Hz - The longer the wavelength of electromagnetic
- An x-ray photon can be thought of as containing energy, the lower is the energy of each photon.
an electric field and a magnetic field that vary
sinusoidally at right angles to each other with a MATTER AND ENERGY
beginning and an end that have diminishing - According to classical physics, matter can be
amplitude. neither created nor destroyed, a law known as
the law of conservation of matter. A similar law,
the law of conservation of energy, states that
energy can be neither created nor destroyed.
- Einstein and Planck greatly extended these
theories
- According to quantum physics and the physics
of relativity, matter can be transformed into
energy and vice versa.
- Nuclear fission, the basis for generating
electricity, is an example of converting matter
into energy.
- In radiology, a process known as pair production
- is an example of the conversion of energy into
- The wavelength of an x-ray photon is measured mass.
similarly to that of any electromagnetic energy: - Similar to the electron volt, the joule (J) is a unit
It is the distance from any position on the sine of energy. One joule is equal to 6.24 × 1018 eV.
wave to the corresponding position of the next
wave.
- The frequency of an x-ray photon is calculated
similarly to the frequency of any
electromagnetic photon, with use of the wave
equation.
- -
-
-

- X-rays are created with the speed of light (c),

and they exist with velocity (c) or they do not
exist at all.
- That is one of the substantive statements of
Planck’s quantum theory
- Max Planck was a German physicist whose
mathematical and physical theories synthesized
our understanding of electromagnetic radiation
into a uniform model; for this work, he received
the Nobel Prize in 1918.
- Another important consequence of this theory
is the relationship between energy and
frequency: Photon energy is directly
proportional to photon frequency.