AIM: Ch 2: Radiation and the Atom Flashcards
It is energy that travels through space or matter.
Radiation
Two categories of radiation of importance in medical imaging are:
Electromagnetic and particulate
T/F: EM radiation has no mass, is unaffected by either electric or magnetic fields, and has a constant speed in a given medium.
True
Maximal speed of EM radiation
2.998 x 10^8 m/s
The interaction of EM radiation can occur by:
1. Change in trajectory:
2. Removal of the radiation:
3. At very higher energies, energy to mass conversion:
- Scattering
- Absorption
- Transformation into particulate radiation
Name the form of EM radiation used for the following modalities:
1. Nuclear imaging
2. Radiography, fluoroscopy and mammography
- Gamma rays
- X-rays
It is a discrete particle-like packets or quanta of energy
Photons
____ characteristics are more apparent when EM radiation interacts with objects of similar dimensions as the photon’s wavelength.
Wave
Particle characteristics of EM radiation, on the other hand, are more evident when an object’s dimensions are much ____ than the photon’s wavelength.
Smaller
It is the intensity of the wave
Amplitude
It is the distance between any two identical points on adjacent cycles.
Wavelength
The time required to complete one cycle of a wave is the ____
Period
Number of periods that occur per second
Frequency
It is the temporal shift of one wave with respect to the other
Phase
It is defined as the energy acquired by an electron as it traverses an electrical potential difference (voltage) of one volt in a vacuum.
1 eV
Energies of photons are commonly expressed in electron volts (eV)
What region of the radiation spectrum serves as the landmark that separates ionizing radiation from non-ionizing radiation?
UV region
Ionizing radiation: wavelengths >200 nm
What wavelength will have sufficient energy to cause ionizing radiation?
> 200 nm
The minimum energy necessary to remove an electron
Ionizing energy
Ionizing energy for water
11.2 eV
The average energy expended per ion pair (W) for water and tissue equivalent gas:
30 W
Electrons emitted by the nuclei of radioactive atoms
Beta particles
Of nuclear origin, negatively charged beta-minus particles are also called ____
Negatrons
Positively charged electrons
Positrons
A neutron is an uncharged nuclear particle that has a mass slightly ____ than that of a proton.
Greater