THE KILLING OF CERTAIN BACTERIA BY X-RAYS

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Abstract
Both copper K X-rays and the soft general radiation from a tungsten tube operated at 12 KV kill B. coli and B. aertryke in a linearly exponential fashion. Within the experimental limits, the two organisms appear to be equally sensitive to these radiations. By making use of the fact that X-ray energy is absorbed in quanta, an approximate picture can be formed of the mechanism of this destructive action. If the average numbers of quanta (alpha) absorbed per bacterium per second are calculated from measurements of air ionization using the quantities outlined in the text, survival ratios for these bacilli can be approximately represented by the equations See PDF for Equation for filtered copper rays and See PDF for Equation for unfiltered copper rays (peak voltage = 34 KV). In terms of the foregoing interpretation this means that when death results, it is caused by the absorption of a single X-ray quantum of energy. Since only about one in twenty of the absorbed quanta kills, the sensitive cell constituents whose destruction leads to cell death must have a volume which is less than 0.06 of the bacterium itself.

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