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Waves in Matter

Exploring structures with waves, and producing radio waves

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 4

Overview

How differences in absorption, reflection and speed let waves explore hidden structures, imaging the body with X-rays, ultrasound, infrared and gamma rays, why ultrasound suits an unborn baby but not the brain, and how radio waves are produced and received by oscillating charges in aerials and tuned circuits.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain why waves can be used to explore structures that cannot be seen directly.

Key term

Explain why bones appear pale on an X-ray image.

Key term

Explain why ultrasound rather than X-rays is used to scan an unborn baby.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain why waves can be used to explore structures that cannot be seen directly.

    Model answer

    Different materials absorb, reflect and transmit waves by different amounts and the waves travel at different speeds in them, so the waves that come back reveal where the boundaries are.

  2. 2

    Explain why bones appear pale on an X-ray image.

    Model answer

    Bone absorbs X-rays far more strongly than the soft tissue around it, so fewer X-rays reach the detector behind the bone.

  3. 3

    Explain why ultrasound rather than X-rays is used to scan an unborn baby.

    Model answer

    Ultrasound is not ionising, so it does not risk damaging the cells of the baby as X-rays would.

  4. 4

    Explain how ultrasound builds up a picture of the inside of the body.

    Model answer

    A pulse is partly reflected at each boundary between tissues, and the time each reflection takes to return gives the depth of that boundary.

  5. 5

    What can infrared radiation reveal about the body?

    Model answer

    It shows differences in surface temperature, so a thermal image can reveal inflammation or poor blood flow.

  6. 6

    Explain how gamma rays are used to see inside the body.

    Model answer

    A substance that emits gamma rays is given to the patient, and a camera outside the body detects the gamma rays that pass out, showing where the substance has collected.

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AGamma radiation is the most penetrating.
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