X-ray | Definition, History, & Facts (2024)

X-ray, electromagnetic radiation of extremely short wavelength and high frequency, with wavelengths ranging from about 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻¹² metre and corresponding frequencies from about 10¹⁶ to 10²⁰ hertz (Hz).

X-rays are commonly produced by accelerating (or decelerating) charged particles; examples include a beam of electrons striking a metal plate in an X-ray tube and a circulating beam of electrons in a synchrotron particle accelerator or storage ring. In addition, highly excited atoms can emit X-rays with discrete wavelengths characteristic of the energy level spacings in the atoms. The X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum falls far outside the range of visible wavelengths. However, the passage of X-rays through materials, including biological tissue, can be recorded with photographic films and other detectors. The analysis of X-ray images of the body is an extremely valuable medical diagnostic tool.

X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation—when interacting with matter, they are energetic enough to cause neutral atoms to eject electrons. Through this ionization process the energy of the X-rays is deposited in the matter. When passing through living tissue, X-rays can cause harmful biochemical changes in genes, chromosomes, and other cell components. The biological effects of ionizing radiation, which are complex and highly dependent on the length and intensity of exposure, are still under active study (see radiation injury). X-ray radiation therapies take advantage of these effects to combat the growth of malignant tumours.

X-rays were discovered in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen while investigating the effects of electron beams (then called cathode rays) in electrical discharges through low-pressure gases. Röntgen uncovered a startling effect—namely, that a screen coated with a fluorescent material placed outside a discharge tube would glow even when it was shielded from the direct visible and ultraviolet light of the gaseous discharge. He deduced that an invisible radiation from the tube passed through the air and caused the screen to fluoresce. Röntgen was able to show that the radiation responsible for the fluorescence originated from the point where the electron beam struck the glass wall of the discharge tube. Opaque objects placed between the tube and the screen proved to be transparent to the new form of radiation; Röntgen dramatically demonstrated this by producing a photographic image of the bones of the human hand. His discovery of so-called Röntgen rays was met with worldwide scientific and popular excitement, and, along with the discoveries of radioactivity (1896) and the electron (1897), it ushered in the study of the atomic world and the era of modern physics.