Waves

What are the Uses of Ultrasound?

Ultrasound is used for scanning, range and direction finding and cleaning.


What is Ultrasound Scanning?

When ultrasound is directed at the human body,
the surfaces of different tissues inside the body partly reflect the ultrasound.
A detector will receive ultrasound echoes at different times,
depending on how deep inside the body the tissue surfaces are.
The detector produces electrical signals that are sent to a computer
and then displayed on a screen as a picture.
This is a clever way of "seeing" inside a body without causing any damage.

Ultrasound scans can safely be used to see an image of a developing baby
inside the uterus of a pregnant mother.
This is called "fetal imaging" or "pre-natal scanning"
and is useful to show if the baby is healthy.

A similar technique can be used in industry
to show cracks or flaws inside metal objects.

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