Breathing in Radiation

[RoseyG]

So I'm guessing this is where it will go. Um this is going to sound strange, but I went to the doctor and needed to get an xray of my chest. The doc tells me to take a big deep breath. I do, but exactly the time he turns it on. Now I'm worried that I breathed in harmful radiation. What do you guys think??

[Jamesflames]

Don't worry! The x-ray radiation passes through your body so it makes no difference whether you breathe in or out or not at all. This is how they work; the radiation goes through you and is scattered/blocked a bit by the tissue it encounters. A picture of the radiation that got through then shows where the scattering/blocking occurs, which shows up as a map of your insides!
While x-ray radiation isn't good for you, the medical machines are carefully designed to minimise harm so you will be fine. We are all constantly bombarded by radiation from the sun, but this is also the radiation that makes life on earth possible.
It's best to generally be careful about the radiation you are exposed to but a few x-rays won't make much difference over a lifetime.

[MrCupOfT]

X-Rays are just another electromagnetic wave, a bit like radio and light. It has a higher frequency and bit more energy. Think of it as the flash of a camera. What you see on the film is the shadow (Dark parts are where the "light" of the flash was absorbed and light parts are where it was. The shades in between gave an indication of the density of the material.)

A lot the stigma and fear of radiation is people don't understand it.
What they associate it with is the Atomic Bomb, and Chernobyl. Yes high levels of radiation is dangerous and eventually fatal. At the levels uses in medical X-Rays is safe. The shield you see it to minimise the cummlative effect on the radiologist and technicians who work in that environment everyday.

I have interest in science and engineering, and the technology involved fascinates me.

Did you know that humans emit radiation? And emit light? And you live in a environment where there is radiation emitted in the background.

It's only a low level so don't worry.

[Easio]

I am pretty certain that the doctor would not want for you to inhale anything that will cause you to become ill - these methods are so far advanced these days, that you can rest calm about the Xray machine.