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I bet this research used a particle accelerator, but the article doesn't mention it. Only these machines seem to be able to generate x-rays with enough brillia
by aylons 10y ago
I bet this research used a particle accelerator, but the article doesn't mention it.
Only these machines seem to be able to generate x-rays with enough brilliance and collimation for this kind of research.
Unfortunately, most of the press does not cite this fact, and people simple don't get to know about the existence and importance of these facilities, which are always publicly funded. That's not only sad, but bad for science.
- 13of40 10y agoActually, you're right and wrong. All x-rays are produced by particle accelerators. (For that matter, so are pictures on a CRT.) The article says they used "macro x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (MA-XRF)", which is a commercially available technology.
- aylons 10y agoMost commercially available technology have particle accelerator-powered versions that are much more powerful. This is the case for MA-XRF, used for the same purpose with painting at the synchrotron light source at Brookhaven: http://phys.org/news/2011-12-x-ray-techniques-art-historians-rembrandt.html http://phys.org/news/2011-12-x-ray-techniques-art-historians...