# X-rays created by fission stage of a hydrogen bomb?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 30, 2019, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761 "2019-05-30T11:38:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/21 "2019-05-31T13:27:25Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> You’re thinking of Cherenkov radiation. [Bremsstrahlung](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung) is just radiation from charged particles that are accelerated, e.g. when a high energy electron is deflected as it nears an atomic nucleus.
d’oh! :smack:
So the electrons do most (all) of it, because they accelerate more?
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/22 "2019-05-31T14:24:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> All sorts of distributions of energy are possible, only one of which is thermal. Most other distributions don’t have names, but one that does is a monochromatic source, in which all of the photons have the same energy (at least, approximately). Another one commonly encountered is a line source, which is basically a mix of a small number of monochromatic sources.
>
> You can have thermal radiation anywhere in the spectrum. It’s just that, after some point, the temperatures become impractical for many purposes. A thermal X-ray source will have a temperature of a million degrees or so; a thermal microwave source will only be a few degrees above absolute zero. But both exist (and in fact the most perfect thermal spectrum we’ve ever observed is in the microwave range-- the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation).
So what is an example of a non-thermal x-ray source?
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/23 "2019-05-31T14:39:49Z")
> **[SILAC](https://www.oem-products.siemens-healthineers.com/linear-accelerator)**
>
> The SILAC® linear accelerator system is designed for non-destructive testing and use in scanning devices for cargo and vehicles in the security sector
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/24 "2019-05-31T14:46:47Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#):
>
> So what is an example of a non-thermal x-ray source?
[X-ray tube.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_tube) Most medical X-ray & CT machines have some type of X-ray tube.
[Synchrotron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchrotron).
[Characteristic X-ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristic_X-ray).
Radioactive isotopes. (Though technically that’s a type of characteristic X-ray emission. When a nucleus decays, the electrons readjust to the orbits of the new element, and the excess energy can be emitted as a characteristic X-ray.)
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/25 "2019-05-31T14:56:46Z")
> [@naita](#):
>
> So the electrons do most (all) of it, because they accelerate more?
Yes. They are moving faster to begin with, and when they collide with ions, they are deflected (accelerated) by a larger amount because they are _much_ lighter than ions. Even a bare proton is 2000x heavier than an electron.
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/26 "2019-05-31T16:55:54Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> [X-ray tube.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_tube) Most medical X-ray & CT machines have some type of X-ray tube.
>
> [Synchrotron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchrotron).
>
> [Characteristic X-ray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristic_X-ray).
>
> Radioactive isotopes. (Though technically that’s a type of characteristic X-ray emission. When a nucleus decays, the electrons readjust to the orbits of the new element, and the excess energy can be emitted as a characteristic X-ray.)
Thanks, that helps. Would x-rays created from a Coolidge tube be considered thermal, whereas those created by a Crooke’s tube would not?
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-rays-created-by-fission-stage-of-a-hydrogen-bomb/834761/27 "2019-05-31T18:14:28Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#):
>
> Thanks, that helps. Would x-rays created from a Coolidge tube be considered thermal, whereas those created by a Crooke’s tube would not?
They both use electric fields to accelerate the electrons towards the target, so they are both non-thermal.
What matters is the energy distribution of electrons hitting the target. If you just had a hot filament next to a target, with no electrical field, then that would be thermal emission. Except you’d have to heat the filament to several million degrees to generate fast enough electrons to generate X-rays.
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