What is the result of elongation on the radiographic image?

• A. Image Appears Too Long
• B. Image Appears Too Short
• C. No Distortion
• D. Magnification Unchanged

Answer: (A)

Elongation is a type of geometric distortion where structures on the radiograph appear longer than they actually are. This happens when the X-ray beam is angled relative to the object or when the object isn’t parallel to the image receptor, so the projection stretches the image along one direction. Because of this misalignment, the image looks too long, even if the actual size is correct. If the beam and object were positioned correctly, there would be no distortion. In contrast, foreshortening would make things look shorter, and magnification relates to how much the image grows due to distance changes rather than angle.