X-Ray Production - Video Lesson

Some people less astute than the average radiography student have wondered where do x rays come from. Are they created by magic? Are they harvested from unicorns? Maybe they're not even real. This lesson is about the main principles of x-ray production. X rays are real, and they have to be created in a very specific way. There's three requirements of x-ray production. A source of electrons, a means of rapidly accelerating or energizing those electrons, and a means of rapidly decelerate or de energizing those electrons. If any of these requirements are missing, x rays won't be produced. In radiography, all three steps of x-ray production take place inside of the x-ray tube. Electrons are produced in the x-ray tube at the cathode filament. The specific process is called thermionic emission, which is the release of electrons in response to heat.