Characteristic X-ray

When you look at something really close with special tools called microscopes, you can see it is made up of tiny bits called atoms. These atoms have even tinier bits inside them called electrons that are always moving around. When an electron in an atom gets very excited, it can jump out of its normal spot and go to a different one. When this happens, the atom gets a little bit weaker and it needs to get its energy back by releasing something called an X-ray. This type of X-ray is called a characteristic X-ray because it tells us something special about the atom that released it, like its name and how much energy it has. Scientists use these characteristic X-rays to help them understand what things are made of and how they work.