Electricity Production

Electricity is a necessity in our lives. Many people can’t function daily without it. Everything in a home functions primarily with electricity. It takes great precision and a lot of around the clock work to insure power is available for use. The process of producing electricity is taken for granted by most people because it seems to always be readily available. No one truly appreciates the need for electricity until the power goes out. Many years ago, food was kept cool in ice boxes, houses were kept warm by using wood burning ovens, and were lit by using kerosene lamps. Thanks to the development of electricity, advances in technology have evolved. Without electricity, it would be hard to produce the voltage and amperage necessary to produce high quality radiographs. Although electricity maybe the main contributor to x-ray production, transformers and rectifiers are also of great importance. Electricity has paved the way for advances in the medical field.

The Production of Electricity

All matter is made up of atoms, which are made of even smaller subatomic particles. These subatomic particles are referred to as protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons orbit the nucleus which is made up of protons and neutrons. If enough energy is added to an electron, it will move out of its orbit and into the next shell. Valence electrons don’t have a shell to enter, so it will jump to another atom . Electrons flow and move around in some materials known as conductors. Protons are not capable of this because they are heavier than electrons. Conductors include, aluminum, silver, copper and gold. Copper is mainly used because of its conducting abilities and because there is a large quantity of it ( Killinger & Killinger, 2003).

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...ed if the current was alternating ( Bushong, 2008). Transformers are necessary to supply a high voltage to the

anode portion of the x-ray tube. Power is only available at 110 or 220 volts. Necessary voltage for the x-ray tube is kilovolts. The two types of transformers used in x-ray production are step-up and step-down transformers. (NDT resource center).

References

Bushong, S.C. (2008). Radiologic Science for Technologists: Physics, biology, and protection. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Killinger, J., & Killinger, L. (2003). Heating and Cooling Essentials. Tinley Park, IL: The Goodheart- Wilcox Company, Inc.

NDT Resource Center (n.d.). X-ray Generators. Retrieved from http://www.ndt- ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Radiography/xraygenerators.htm

Solcomhouse (n.d.). Electricity. Retrieved from http://www.solcomhouse.com/ electricity.htm