ABSTRACT
The important properties of X-rays are that they are invisible rays and travel in straight lines. X-rays are ionizing radiation that have enough energy to remove tightly bound electrons from atoms thus creating ions and they travel at the speed of light. X-rays cannot be deflected by magnetic or electric fields. X-rays can be classified into soft and hard X-rays depending on their penetrating ability. Soft X-rays range from 0.1 to 10 nm wavelength and corresponding energies from 0.12 to 12 keV. Soft X-rays have longer wavelength, lower energy, and lower penetration power, whereas hard X-rays have shorter wavelength, higher energy (>10 keV), and hence higher penetrating power. Soft X-rays are suitable for agricultural and food products due to their lower penetration capacity and their ability to characterize the differences in density. Hard X-rays, owing to higher penetration power, are extensively used to image the interior of objects and hence are mostly used in medical imaging and airport security scanning applications. X-rays were originally used in medical diagnosis, but later on, applications of X-ray use in other fields, such as astronomy, agriculture, food, aquaculture, dairy, pharmaceutical, and security, were explored.
