Bremsstrahlung Flashcards
What is the Bremsstrahlung interaction named after?
A German word for braking and slowing
What is one condition for Brems interactions?
Only occur when the incident electron interacts with the force field of the nucleus
What is a second condition for Brems interaction?
The incident electron must have enough energy to pass through the orbital shells and go near the nucleus of the atom
The greater the turn
the greater the energy is released
Because the atomic nuclei have a positive charge and the incident electron has a negative charge
there is a mutual attraction between them
What happens when the incident electron gets close to the nucleus?
the powerful nuclear forcefield is much too great for the electron to penetrate
Because the forcefield is much too great for the incident electron which causes it…
to slow down or break and it diverts the electrons course
What is the result of it?
the electron loses all or some energy and changes direction
The energy that is lost during the braking is emitted as
x-ray photon
The emission is called Brems photons and their energy is exactly
the difference between the entering and exiting kinetic energy of the electron
The more the electron changes direction the more energy is lost=
the greater the energy of the photon
Why would the greatest photon energy completely stop?
because the electron lost all of its energy which was given to the photon
