Properties of the X-ray Beam - Video Lesson

Welcome. This lesson is the first in a series about the X-ray beam. Radiographic images are created by exposing the patient to an X-ray beam. The X-ray beam is actually composed of millions of individual trays. So what is an x-ray? An x-ray is simply a tiny package of energy that we call a photon. That's why sometimes we refer to it as an x-ray photon. X-ray photons have a lot of energy, but they have no mass. They have no charge. And they travel at the speed of light. Their velocity never changes. X rays are actually similar to light in some ways because both visible lights and x rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is the entire range of photon energies. And this includes some familiar terms, radio waves, microwaves, visible lights, x rays,