Which law describes what happens to photons as they travel through tissues based on attenuation?

The Lambert-Beer Law, also known as Beer-Lambert Law, is essential in understanding how photons behave as they pass through various tissues. This law explains that the intensity of light (or photons) decreases exponentially as it travels through an absorbing medium, which in the case of medical imaging, is the human body. The attenuation of photons is directly related to the properties of the tissue and the thickness of the material they are traveling through.

In this context, the law states that the transmitted intensity is proportional to the exponential negative of the product of the absorption coefficient of the medium and the distance traveled through that medium. This relationship helps in predicting how much of the original photon beam intensity will remain after passing through different types of tissue, which is crucial for analyzing CT scans. Understanding attenuation is fundamental for radiologic technologists and radiologists when interpreting imaging data and ensuring appropriate exposure levels.