X-Rays

They consist of high-energy photons

In 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen found that a highly penetrating radiation of unknown nature is
produced when fast electrons impinge on matter called X-Rays.

X-Rays as inverse of photoelectric effect

 In photoelectric effect photons of light can transfer all energy to electrons.
 In the inverse process (photoelectric effect) kinetic energy of a moving electron be converted
into a photon.

Properties of X-rays
 Travel in straight lines.
 Unaffected by electric and magnetic fields.
 wavelength of x rays to be of the order of 10 -10m = 0.1 nm.
 pass readily through opaque materials.
 He investigated this phenomenon extensively and found that all materials are transparent to
these rays to some degree and that the transparency decreases with increasing density.
 Cause phosphorescent substances to glow, and to expose photographic plates.
 The faster the original electrons, the more penetrating the resulting x-rays.
 Greater the number of electrons, the greater the intensity of the x-ray beam.
 x-rays are electromagnetic waves.
 Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from about 0.01nm to about 10 nm falls into the
category of x-rays.
 The shorter wavelength end overlaps gamma rays and the longer-wavelength end overlaps
ultraviolet light
 Dependence of energy of x-rays
The greater the energy of an electron and the greater the atomic number of the nuclei it
encounters, the more energetic the bremsstrahlung.

 Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity followed within a year. Roentgen received the first Nobel
Prize in physics in 1902.
 Calcium content, bone is much more opaque to x-rays than muscle, which in turn is more
opaque than fat.
 To enhance contrast, “meals” that contain barium are given to patients to better display their
digestive systems, and other compounds may be injected into the bloodstream to enable the
condition of blood vessels to be studied.

Measuring The Wavelengths of X-Rays

 A diffraction experiment had been recognized as ideal, but as we recall from physical optics, the
spacing between adjacent lines on a diffraction grating must be of the same order of
 magnitude as the wavelength of the light for satisfactory results, and gratings cannot be ruled
with the minute spacing required by x-rays.
 x-rays were comparable to the atomic spacing in crystals and used to diffract x-rays, with their
regular lattices acting as a kind of three-dimensional grating.
 The experiments carried out by Max von Laue wavelengths from 0.013 to 0.048 nm were found,
104 of those in visible light and hence having quanta 10 4 times as energetic.

X-rays Production.

A cathode heated by a filament through which an electric current is passed, supplies electrons
by thermionic emission. The high potential difference nearly 1000eV maintained between the cathode
and a metallic target accelerates the electrons toward the latter. The face of the target is at an angle
relative to the electron beam, and the x-rays that leave the target pass through the side of the tube. The
tube is evacuated to permit the electrons to get to the target unimpeded.

 The time interval for atomic transitions to happen is very short, less than 10-9 s.
 x-ray photons have wavelengths in the range of 0.01 nm to 1 nm.
 Electromagnetic theory predicts that an accelerated electric charge will radiate
electromagnetic waves.
 Rapidly moving electron suddenly brought to rest is certainly accelerated and Radiation
produced under these circumstances is given the German name bremsstrahlung (“braking
radiation”).
 Energy loss due to bremsstrahlung is more important for electrons than for heavier particles
because electrons are more violently accelerated when passing near nuclei in their paths.
X-Ray Spectra
The x-ray spectra that result when tungsten and molybdenum targets are bombarded by electrons
at several different accelerating potentials. The curves exhibit two features electromagnetic theory
cannot explain:

1. In the case of molybdenum, intensity peaks occur that indicate the enhanced production of x-
rays at certain wavelengths. These peaks occur at specific wavelengths for each target material
and originate in re-arrangements of the electron structures of the target atoms after having
been disturbed by the bombarding electrons. The important thing to note at this point is the
presence of x-rays of specific wavelengths, a decidedly non-classical effect, in addition to a
continuous x-ray spectrum.
The existence of characteristic lines in an x-ray spectrum is further direct evidence of the
quantization of energy in atomic systems.
2. Minimum wavelength
The x-rays produced at a given accelerating potential V vary in wavelength, but none has
a wavelength shorter than a certain value 𝛌min.

Precise relationship of 𝛌min and V

Duane and Hunt found experimentally that 𝛌min is inversely proportional to V

1.24 ×10−6
𝛌min = Vm
V
 The continuous spectrum has a sharp cutoff wavelength, which is independent of the target
material but depends only on the kinetic energy of the bombarding electrons.
 At a particular V, 𝛌min is the same for both the tungsten and molybdenum targets.
 Note that as you change the target material, perhaps from molybdenum to copper, the general
shape and fotensity of the continuous spectrum may change but the cutoff wavelength will not
change.
  The higher the accelerating voltage V, the faster the electrons and the shorter the
wavelengths of the x-rays.
 The Duane-Hunt 𝛌min simply corresponds to a photon with the maximum energy of the
electrons, that is, the photon emitted when the electron losses all of its kinetic energy in a single
collision.
 A short wavelength means a high frequency, and a high frequency means a high photon energy
hf.

Characteristic X-Rays
X-rays due to inner shell transition
An energetic incoming electron strikes an atom in the target and knocks out one of its deep-
lying electrons. If the electron is in K shell there remains a vacancy, or a "hole" as we shall call it, in this
shell. One of the outer electrons moves in to fill this hole and, in the process, the atom emits a
characteristic x-ray photon.

For hole in K-shell

If the electron falls from the L shell to K shell we have the k α x-rays.

If electron falls from M shell to K shell we have the k β x-rays.

For hole in L-shell

If the electron falls from the M shell to L shell we have the Lα x-rays.

If the electron falls from the N shell to L shell we have the L β x-rays.

So on.

Why we use tungsten as Target

Answer
Most of the electrons that strike the target undergo numerous glancing collisions, with their
energy going simply into heat. This is why the targets in x-ray tubes are made from high melting-point
metals such as tungsten, and a means of cooling the target is usually employed.

 Work functions are only a few electron volts whereas the accelerating potentials in x-ray tubes
are typically tens or hundreds of thousands of volts.
 Since the kinetic energy of the electrons in an x-ray tube is 20000eV or higher, the work
function (few electron volts) is negligible by comparison.
 The entire kinetic energy K.E = eV of a bombarding electron is given up to a single photon of
energy hfmax. Hence
K.Emax = Ve = hfmax
1.24 ×10−6
𝛌min = V.m
V
 Find the shortest wavelength present in the radiation from an x-ray machine whose
accelerating potential is 50,000 V?

X-RAYS AND THE NUMBERING OF THE ELEMENTS

Moseley generated characteristic x-rays by using as many elements as he could find he found 38
as targets for electron bombardment in a special evacuated x-ray tube of his own design.

He measured the wavelengths of a number of the lines of the characteristic x-ray spectrum by
the crystal diffraction method.

He noted that if, for a given spectrum line such as k α, he plotted the square root of its frequency
against the position of the associated element in the periodic table, a straight line resulted.

why a straight line is to be expected?

We have here a proof that there is in the atom a fundamental quantity, which increases by
regular steps as we pass from one element to the next. This quantity can only be the charge on the
central atomic nucleus.