Distance traveled by X-rays in air

[Lambduh]

Hi guys new to the forums and have a quick question about x-rays!

I'm guessing that if i know how far an x-ray is traveling in atmosphere from where it is generated before being absorbed (by using a simple x-ray detector) i should be able to calculate the approximate energy of that x-ray. It's a rather crude method and i just want to figure out the general energy, nothing specific. I don't know much about the subject and am curious what i would need to solve this. Thanks!

Mark

 

[vanesch]

There exists an on-line calculator

http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Xcom/Text/XCOM.html

which gives you the attenuation coefficient in any material composition as a function of the energy of the gamma (or X) ray.