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I was reading and came across the following paragraph

The X-rays thus produced by many electrons make up the continuous spectrum of Figure 2-10 and are very many discrete photons whose wavelengths vary from $\lambda_{min}$ to infinity.

So, I am wondering how can it range to Infinity, I mean isn't the range of wavelengths that we call X-rays from 0.01nm to 10 nm?

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  • $\begingroup$ Just read it charitably: the photons produced are from X-rays down to radio waves. $\endgroup$
    – naturallyInconsistent
    Commented Dec 20, 2023 at 3:11
  • $\begingroup$ Related: physics.stackexchange.com/q/561192/123208 $\endgroup$
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Dec 20, 2023 at 7:16
  • $\begingroup$ TLDR: Sometimes, when you see "X-ray," the author is specifying a range of photon energies. Sometimes, the author is talking about photons produced by a specific process. The process (bombarding a metallic target with high-energy electrons) can produce photons with energies that are far outside of the band of energies that is traditionally called "X-ray." $\endgroup$
    – Solomon Slow
    Commented Dec 20, 2023 at 16:29

1 Answer 1

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Breaking up the electromagnetic spectrum into discrete bins (x-rays, microwaves, radio waves, ...) is a tool which makes thinking about electromagnetic radiation easier. Putting hard limits on what you call an x-ray (e.g. $\lambda = 9$ nm is an x-ray, but $\lambda = 11$ nm isn't) is a pointless exercise - you should think about the categories more loosely than that.

In this passage, the author means that the process (Bremsstrahlung?) in question emits electromagnetic radiation which is primarily in the x-ray range, but in principle consists of all wavelengths above some $\lambda_{min}$. I think their passage gets the point across.

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