X-Rays (astronomy science series)

Near the end, or at least the steep part, of Forest Road 271 spur (4x4 trail) in Pike National Forest. This spur does not connect to Rt 96:

Everything is transparent. We can see through the air, through water, through glass, through diamonds, through some plastics. We rarely stop to think that we, too, are transparent. Not in the same kinds of light that our eyes see, but in those more energetic, “smaller” frequencies that can slip through the spaces between the atoms of our bodies. We are transparent down to our bones, and beyond. Higher frequencies penetrate our bones; penetrate down through the earth and out the other side. Even lead and gold, the nemeses of x-rays because they are so dense, are transparent to some of the more dangerously energetic photons.

When x-rays were first discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (Roentgen in American) he didn’t know what to call them. Roentgen’s friends wanted this new form of light to be called ‘Roentgen Rays’, but he called them X-rays because he thought Roentgen Rays sounded silly. Still, even though we call them x-rays here, in many German-speaking countries they are called Roentgen Rays.

Light is measured by frequency and wavelength; wavelength is how far a photon, or light beam, goes during one wiggle; frequency is how many times that photon wiggles per second. The shorter the wiggle, the faster, or higher, the frequency. X-rays, being very energetic, have a wavelength between 10 ^-8 meters to 10 ^-11 meters. Since those are negative powers, that means x-rays are tiny; between a billion per inch and a trillion per inch! And they vibrate, wiggle, oscillate, or whatever you want to call it, between 30 x 10¹⁶ and 30 x 10¹⁹ times per second. Or to rephrase, between 300000000000000000 Hz and 300000000000000000000 Hz! (Hertz, abbreviated Hz, means “per second”, when talking about light, radio, or electricity)

It’s important to remember that no matter how many, or few, times a beam of light might wiggle per second, the whole thing is still whipping through space at roughly 186, 000 miles per second. Or, to go metric (because the other measurements were metric) about 300,000,000 meters per second. Because our bodies are made up of atoms, and there are spaces within atoms between the center and the electrons, and between atoms, some smaller wavelengths of light can wiggle between the center of an atom and its electron without touching either. X-rays and gamma rays can do this.

But some wavelengths of light can’t even penetrate our atmosphere. Most of the x-rays from our Sun and other stars don’t. Even so, most of the x-ray exposure you will experience in your lifetime, roughly 85% according to one figure, comes from natural sources such as the Sun, and some from decay of radioactive elements on Earth.

Because the Sun does produce X-rays; indeed, the Sun produces just about any kind of ray we can imagine, and probably a few we can’t; its handy to measure what the Sun is doing in x-ray light. (But don’t look straight at the Sun- it’s bad for your eyes! You can burn a hole in your retina and experience permanent eye damage in less than a second! Since there are no pain nerves in your eyeballs, you’ll never feel it! Don’t look at the Sun with binoculars or a telescope, either!) If you want to look at the Sun, there are much safer ways to do it. Your eyes can’t see x-rays, anyhow. But satellites can look at the Sun, and post real-time pictures of what the Sun looks like in x-rays, ultra-violet, even magnetic images. NASA has great pictures at http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images in all kinds of light

If it’s a sunny day when you are seeking this cache- or even if it’s not: ultra-violet light is not stopped by clouds: look at your shadow and imagine how it would look in x-rays. Remember that the x-ray pictures that you get from the doctors office are negative; that means metal buttons and fillings in your teeth really appear black. Or they would, if you could see in x-ray light. Your x-ray shadow might include bright-red iron-oxides; rust; inside your blood cells, tracing filigree patterns throughout your limbs. Depending on how strong the x-rays coming from the Sun were, your bones might appear a translucent black; like the seams on a stained glass window. Your stomach and colon might blue. You wouldn’t be able to see your brains; they’re protected by bone. Look around you; imagine cosmic-rays particles, zipping through the Earth itself as if the entire planet did not exist.

If you want to learn more about x-rays and the electromagnetic spectrum, go to http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/xrays.html For adults wanting more x-ray info, wiki has a great article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/x-ray

Originally I thought this science series would be a power trail, but things being the way things are, these astronomy-themed caches are not very power-trail-ish. Instead, the first half can be found along Lake George’s Forest Rd 271. This is a 4x4 trail; please do not attempt with a regular car! Terrain and difficulty ratings are for people who drive to the cache locations; if you hike or mountain bike, of course the D/Ts will be different.

There will be a mixture of regular sized and small caches to start. We have a lot of peanut-butter jars to repurpose. The key is to have fun! And stay safe!

cache is about 50 feet from the road. Some signal bounce here.

Congrats to jherber for X-ray vision and FTF!