Is there a method to see through surfaces?

Is there any instruments or methods to see underneath the surface of lets say old paintings to see the original outlines or if something is gold plated, to see the original core metal without destroying the surface?

Im thinking some sort of radio or mircowave electron microscopy or perhaps a certain intense multiplied bandwidth of light.

Any suggestions?

How about x-rays or MRI?

I can just imagine looking down through the surface of the Earth:

"My eyes, they burn!!!"

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
How about x-rays or MRI?

I don't specialize in this type of stuff, so correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think X-Rays or MRI would work because the X-Ray would see through it...He wants this :

original outlines or if something is gold plated, to see the original core metal without destroying the surface?

Nevermind, I'm googling while typing this & this link proved me wrong. CLICK HERE

So I'm sure it could be done.

This is my third time editing in like forty seconds. I'm actually confused about the question now. I still think with an X-ray it may be able to get done.

keep it simple man...

Try to calculate the weight and density
find the average thickness of common plating metals
run some numbers and compare it to known values

ETA - for paintings I think they do use radiology

reply to post by Vandettas


I watched a documentary on the Antikythera Device a few days ago and an English X-Ray company was able to Xray the device so they could see all the layers that made up the machine.

I thought xrays could do this?

Originally posted by dominicus
Is there any instruments or methods to see underneath the surface of lets say old paintings to see the original outlines or if something is gold plated, to see the original core metal without destroying the surface?

Im thinking some sort of radio or mircowave electron microscopy or perhaps a certain intense multiplied bandwidth of light.

Any suggestions?

X-rays are used to see through paintings. It will show you if there are any layers underneath as well as detecting the likes of minerals (such as lead etc) in the paint etc.

2 different types would be used if you fully wanted to check out a suspect painting. They are called autoradiography & stereoradiography.