I mean if you look at the results it can look right through bone as if you sliced through a bone and are looking inside...it's pretty neet but I don't get how it works.
2006-12-08 09:36:23 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Medicine
They put you inside a massive magnet. This magnet causes the nuclei of atoms in your body to behave (resonate) in differentiated ways. The physicists can tell which atoms are which based on these reactions to radio waves when under the influence of the magnet.
Wikipedia's explanation is probably too complicated for a jist understanding. I put a couple of better sites in my sources.
2006-12-08 09:47:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hydrogen does respond to magnetic fileds -- never as strongly as iron does, but enough for a sensitive sensor to detect the change. And since all living tissues contain hydrogen, you do have an imaging system that relies on the water and fat content to distinguish objects. That is where the R in MRI comes from: those hydrogen atoms do Resonnate to the Magnetic field, allowing an Image to be made.
Yes, it is pretty neat. Just do go into a working MRI machine with iron objects though...
2006-12-08 17:46:37 · answer #2 · answered by Vincent G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
MRI = Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It basically applies a magnetic field to the body part then shoots radio waves at it. Knowing the frequency at which the hydrogens in water absorb this enegry allowes the operator to look at water in the body part. I guess this gives them info on injury to that body part. I'm a med chemist not an MD. This is very similar to an instrumet I use everyday NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). It alows me to determine the structure of a chemical.
2006-12-08 19:27:46 · answer #3 · answered by jsn77raider 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's based on the same concepts as a nuclear magnetic resonance machine (the ones used in chem labs).
2006-12-08 17:42:25 · answer #4 · answered by Jess 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋