Essay On Crookes Tube

In November of 1985, a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting in his laboratory with a Crookes tube. The Crookes tube was developed by English physicist William Crookes. A Crookes tube is a gasless, glass container that contains a negatively charged cathode and a positive charged anode with an induction coil to carry a current. Roentgen discovered that when a high voltage was applied to the tube, it emitted an invisible source of beams that led a fluorescent screen to glow. This fluorescent screen was approximately 9 feet across the room. This was an unexpected discovery because at the time, the glass tube was being shielded by a heavy black cardboard to contain the glow from the electrons reacting inside that tube. After this happened, Roentgen tried using other sources including, but not limited to paper and books from his desk to try and break the invisible beam path to no avail.

(UCSD.Edu)

Roentgen decided to further his experiment with his new found information by using a photography plate as a medium and noticed that a fog had appeared after exposure to the invisible beams. He soon encouraged his wife to let him use her hand in his testing and the first x-ray of a human body part was produced.

(UCSD.Edu)

Soon after his experimenting and production of his first x-ray, he had written and submitted his findings to the Wurzburg Physico-Medical Society in December of 1895.The publication of these mysterious rays set a frenzy into place as many other physicists and scientists abandoned what they were doing and immersed themselves in these new extraordinary findings.

Once the study was published X-rays were being advertised for a wide range of uses. Within one month of Roentgens published study, Dr. Gil...

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...ensure that radiation safety activities are being performed in accordance with licensee-approved procedures and regulatory requirements.” (NCR)

Radiation safety is something to take very seriously. It has been proved that abusing radiation can result in burns and hair loss to applied area. It has even gone as far as contributing to death. Even though radiation is not all bad, as it can cure carcinomas, it is something where strict safety guidelines should always be followed. With the three step simple process of using short exposure time, distancing yourself at least six feet from the x-ray tube while making an exposure and using proper lead aprons for shielding, you can cut your exposure to almost nothing. Wearing your film badge further enhances your protection as you are able to monitor how much radiation you have been exposed to, as it is checked monthly.