Re: Lab sparks make x-rays

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

At 04:00 PM 11/2/2005, Tesla list wrote:
> Original poster: "D.C. Cox" <resonance@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> The mean free path in air is less than 2 mm so it's difficult to 
> accelerate electrons to high velocity to do this.  Also, most large 
> terminals for these potentials are made of spun aluminum, an element 
> not very conducive to X-ray production with it's low atomic number.

I think the production of xrays in air is more a function of di/dt 
than voltage.  There's also a heating aspect (get a plasma hot 
enough, and it radiates xrays from blackbody radiation.. 1 eV = 11000 
K ).  Probably a Z-pinch effect.


Off hand, I doubt a TC has the discharge energy with low enough 
inductance to do it.  The soft Xray generating things I've seen tend 
to have more energy with a very low inductance discharge path.   Bear 
in mind that none of these are traditional bremsstrahlung type xray 
producers (where you accelerate an electron and crash it into a 
target, as in a conventional xray tube).  They're more in the 
thermonuclear reaction regime.