Ch.9 Flashcards
What are the three essentials conditions for the production of x-rays?
- Must be a source of free electrons
- Must be a means of accelerating those electrons to extreme speeds
- Must be a means of decelerating the electrons.
The source of free electrons is a _____ wire heated sufficiently to produce thermionic emission.
Filament
What is a minimum filament temperature?
3700 F
The actual temperature of the filament above 3700, hence the rate of thermionic emission, is predetermined by what?
mA station selected
The ____ ____ constitutes electrons that are free to move across the X-ray tube to the anode.
Space cloud/electron cloud
Some electrons fall back into the filament but are replaced by other electrons jumping out such that a constant number of electrons hover within the cloud. This state of equilibrium is called what?
Space charge effect
The number of electrons is predetermined by setting the ____ station.
mA
In order to suddenly accelerate the electrons of the space charge in a direction toward the anode, extremely high voltage _______ force is applied to the same filament.
Electromotive (EMF)
Electrons can accelerate to more than one half the ______ in just one inch of travel before reaching the anode disc.
Speed of light
The anode disc, made of metals with very high atomic numbers, provides a means of precipitously _______ these projectile electrons as the smash into it.
Decelerating
By the law of conservation of energy, the energy lost by sudden slowing down of the electrons cannot disappear but must be converted into another form. It is converted into what forms?
Electromagnetic radiation waves, including infrared, visible light, ultraviolet waves and x-rays.
How much of the radiation emitted from an exposure is useful diagnostic X-ray?
.5%
The other 99.5% emitted from the X-ray tube and its housing is in what form of energy?
Heat including infrared radiation, and as visible light.
The X-ray tube is a diode tube meaning what?
That is has two charged electrodes.
In electrical circuits, a negatively charged electrode is called a ______.
Cathode
In an electrical circuit, a positively charged electrode is called an _____.
Anode
The focusing cup of the cathode is usually made up of what material?
Molybdenum or nickel
The filaments in the cathode are embedded in _____ carved into the focusing cup.
Pitts
What is a dual focus tube?
Provide two filaments to choose from with the larger one ranging from 1.5-2 times the length of the smaller one.
What is actually being selected when you choose a large or small focusing spot?
The large or small filament.
Because negatively charged electrons repel each other the beam of electrons traveling from the filament to the anode tend to spread out, therefore within its pit each filament is surrounded with negative charge. What effect does this create?
This has the effect of pushing the electrons back toward the middle of the beam as they leave the filament, narrowing and constricting the beam.
By the time the beam reaches the anode is becomes smaller than the ____ itself.
Filament
The area on the anode where the electrons strike is called what?
The focal spot.
Within its pit each filament is thereby surrounded with _____ charge. This has the effect of pushing the electrons back toward the _____ of the beam as they leave the filament, narrowing and constricting
Negative, middle
Typically the electron beam as it strikes the focal spot is about _____ the size of the filament from which the electron beam originated.
1/20th
What is the size of the small focal spot and the large focal spot on standard diagnostic tubes?
Small- .5-.6 mm
Large- 1.0-1.2mm
What are the smallest focal spots that can be engineered?
.1 mm
If the filament is embedded deeply enough into its ___, and the focusing cup is given a strong _____ charge, then the electrons can actually be withheld from leaving the vicinity of the filament by oblique repulsion.
Pits, negative
The focusing cup can act as a ______ for very short exposures.
Switch