Physics is the base of Diagnostic Machines

Either oneself or anyone close in our family, friends, and colleagues we know has undergone a diagnostic procedure such as Ultrasound, ECG, X-Ray, CT Scan, MRI, Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, etc. At times the sheer size of the machines by which the procedures are performed looks overwhelming. The patient and his/her accompanying family members also feel uncomfortable comprehending what goes on behind these machines while their loved one will have to undergo the required procedure.

Well friends, behind all of them is just one word which makes them work i.e., Physics. Yes, Physics is the subject that forms the backbone of these machines, and how the Physics inside machines interact with that of the patient’s body, brings out the diagnostic report in the end. Isn’t it interesting to find implied in this remark is the fact that within a human body “a lot of Physics takes place which interacts with the Physics happening inside these machines and in the end, it is this which gives out a diagnostic report”! We will discover it as we move to my forthcoming blogs.

Except for Ultrasound machines, all other forms of procedures are based on the Electromagnetic behavior of the waves inside the machines, which exist in nature and are used to construct the primary functionality of these machines. While Ultrasound has at its backbone the Sound waves, the same by which we experience our hearing. The sound waves make the machines scan a human body in the high-frequency range. But remember, the sound waves are mechanical unlike electromagnetic waves (EMW).

There has been a big debate within the Physics community during Newton’s time about the Nature of Light, which is also an EMW viz. is it a particle or a wave. We will discuss it in one of my blogs, but here in case of light regarding its dual nature one often finds raised, even today by those studying Physics and otherwise.

This is just an introduction to the diagnostic machines’ functionality. So, in one of my forthcoming blogs, we will talk about what is wave nature in itself and gradually move to the EMW and Ultrasound waves. We will also briefly deal with both positive and negative effects if any on the human body when it undergoes such a procedure. It will be worth knowing how these machines carrying out diagnostic procedures can do to elongate the life of human beings falling sick. Why there are different machines, except for one of its types, all of them function on EMW? How the Physics-based interaction with the human body’s changes tracks these machines and ultimately benefit the health sector at large?

Cameron Ahmad

Code: PHDM-1

March 28, 2021

Brampton ON

Canada