One of my co-workers asked me today why does UV radiation reach earth but X-rays don’t. I offered that it was because of the earth’s magnetic field and he felt pretty sure that it has something to do with the atmosphere.
What is the staright dope?
Thanks
It’s because of the atmosphere, which is opaque to X-rays and actually much of the UV band as well. From here:
It’s the air, not the magnetic field. Magnetic fields bend the path of charged particles (e.g. solar wind), but photons do not have electrical charge and are not affected.
As always, you guy rock. Thanks a lot 
A measurable, and not insignificant, amount still penetrates the atmosphere. A look at the following site:
http://www.avweb.com/news/aeromed/181873-1.html
will give you an idea of the radiation received by airline crews from x-ray/cosmic radiation as well as from the normal background radiation we’re all receiving all the time.