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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique used primarily in medical settings to
produce high quality images of the inside of the human body. MRI is based on the principles of
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a spectroscopic technique used by scientists to
obtain microscopic chemical and physical information about molecules. The technique was
called magnetic resonance imaging rather than nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI)
because of the negative connotations associated with the word nuclear in the late 1970's.
How it works.
The human body is primarily fat and water. Fat and water have many hydrogen atoms
which make the human body approximately 63% hydrogen atoms. The nucleus of a hydrogen
atom is comprised of a single proton. The proton possesses a property called spin which
can be thought of as a small magnetic field that causes the nucleus to produce an NMR signal.
This NMR signal is detected and processed by a MRI machine to produce the final
image an operator sees.
To learn more about the MRI Lab and the reasearch they do, please visit the
MRI Lab Webpage.
To Learn more about MRI, you can take a look at
The Basics of MRI, an online book by Professor Joseph Hornak.
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