... x-ray photons. Electrons reside in different orbitals around an atoms nucleus. When an electron drops to a lower orbital, energy is released in the form of a photon. The photons energy level depends on how far the electron is dropped between orbitals. When a photon collides with another atom, the atom may absorb the energy level of the photon boosting an electron to a higher level. In order for this to happen, the energy level of the photon has to be the same as the energy difference between the two electron positions. If this is not the case the photon is unable to shift electrons between orbitals. How the x-ray machine works The heart of an x-ray machine is an electrode pair (a cathode and an anode) that sits inside a glass vacuum tube. The cathode is a heated filament; the machine passes a current through the filament in order to do this. ...

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