Gate 41What does the X-ray screen show?
Why are all my things orange and blue on that screen?
Baggage scanners use X-rays and colour to show what material an object seems to be made of. A common convention is orange for organic materials (food, paper, clothing), blue for dense metals and inorganic materials, and green for mixed.
Screeners look at shapes and colours together. CT scanners build a 3D image that can be rotated. Items that look unclear are checked by hand.
A little deeper
Scanners estimate the effective atomic number and density of what they see. Colours and thresholds vary by manufacturer.
This demo is illustrative, not a real security image.
See it in Gate 41, in security
Related questions
People involved
- Priya NairAviation security officer