X-rays from a Coolidge tube are incident on a thin aluminium foil, and the intensity of the transmitted X-rays is observed to be I₀ . If the heating current is subsequently raised to increase the filament temperature, the new intensity of the X-rays transmitted by the foil will be

Step-by-step solution

Increasing the heating current increases the temperature of the filament in the Coolidge tube. This leads to an increase in the rate of thermionic emission, causing more electrons to strike the target per second. As a result, the number of X-ray photons produced per second increases, which means the intensity of the incident X-rays increases. Since the accelerating voltage across the tube is unchanged, the maximum energy of the X-ray photons and the absorption coefficient of the aluminium foil remain constant. The