Ultrasound (treatment and scans)

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Sound is longitudinal Wave

  • sound waves squash and stretch particles
  • Compresion are parts of the wave under high pressure
  • rarefractions are the parts under low pressure 
  • a full wave length is from one compresion to another
  • the amplitude shows how much energy the wave is carrying ( how loud it is)

In longitudinal waves the vibration are along the same direction as the wave is travelling. Whereas in a transverse wave the vibrations are 90 degrees to the direction of the wave.

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Uses of Ultrasound

  • Ultrasound is higher frequency than  we can hear ( above 20000 hz)

However it has many useful medical properties 

  • Breaking down accumulations in the body such as kidney stones by using high energy waves that turn the mass into a sand like substance (the waves cause vibrations and osilations).

Body scanning- Ultra sound waves pass through the body but when the reach a different substance e.g. skin and fluid some of the wave is reflected back. The timing and the distribution of these reflection allow a computer to make an accurate reprsentation of what is inside the body

Ultrasound also has it's advantages over X-RAY

  • It is safer as it does not harm living cells and it is not ionising unlike X-RAY waves
  • Also it can be used to scan soft tissue whereas X-RAY can only scan harder things such as bone. As it is more penetrating.
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