X rays — What should we know about them?

Most engineers are familiar with some of the more common uses of X rays, and many have had occasion to apply them in their daily work; to many, however, the picture of this versatile tool and its numerous applications is quite incomplete. The latter will find this article particularly interesting and instructive. The nature of these rays, the mechanism of their production, and the fundamental principles underlying their many applications in medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, and industry are outlined briefly. Perhaps the most striking application is the determination of the ultimate fine structure of materials from the results of diffraction analysis, in which the X rays provide a supermicroscopic vision of matter. This is the thirteenth and concluding article of the “Science Series for Engineers” developed under auspices of the A.I.E.E. committee on education.