Which sorts of materials are transparent to x rays

Other properties include:. Ensinger's X-ray materials for food industry. All Ultradetectable plastics. This website uses cookies to improve functionality and performance. Inorganic Blue , and 3. Mixed Green , or coloured with Pseudo Colour which is artificial colourisation of grey levels. Artificial colourisation is extremely useful because humans can distinguish thousands of colours, compared to just a few levels of grey.

Artificial colourisation can assist in identifying certain threats amongst clutter. Low density organic materials, such as paper, wood, clothing, foodstuffs and plastics will show up as various shades of orange. Explosives are organic materials, so will appear as an orange shadow — the darkness of the shadow will depend on the thickness of the explosive material. Explosives may not ALWAYS appear orange if they are masked by inorganic materials — then the colour shown will be a composite of the two materials.

Items with a mixture of both organic and inorganic materials will show up as green. Very high density materials, such as lead, will show up as black. Material containing lead e.

The X-ray operator should take into account the shading of the various colours as, obviously, layers of a less dense material will show up as similar to a dense material — for example a box of photocopying paper will appear a very dark orange, in fact almost black. The images are recorded on a computer or film. The test is done in a hospital radiology department or in the health care provider's office. How you are positioned depends on the type of x-ray being done. Several different x-ray views may be needed.

You need to stay still when you are having an x-ray. Motion can cause blurry images. You may be asked to hold your breath or not move for a second or two when the image is being taken.

Before the x-ray, tell your health care team if you are pregnant, may be pregnant, or if you have an IUD inserted. You will need to remove all jewelry. Metal can cause unclear images. You may need to wear a hospital gown. X-rays are painless. Some body positions needed during an x-ray may be uncomfortable for a short time.