# X-Rays --- **X-ray** scanning is a type of medical [[imaging]] that is useful for seeing hard structures like [[bone]]. ![[x-ray.png]] ## How it Works X-rays are a forms of high-energy, short-wavelength electromagnetic [[radiation]] that can pernitrate solids. Beams of x-ray radiation are sent through an object and land on a special reactive plate, turning it black. Soft tissue disrupts the beams a little bit, so they show up as gray, and bone disrupts the beams a lot, so those show up as an even lighter gray. Metal completely blocks the beams, so those show up as bright white, because no rays could get through it to darken the sheet. ## CT Scans **CT** or **computed tomography** scans are basically 3D x-ray scans, done by a **CAT** or **computerized axial tomography** scanner. "Tomography" means to image something by sections. ## Special X-Rays X-rays are taken by location, and sometimes they have special names: - KUB is an x-ray of the kidneys, ureter and bladder ___