The Absorbed Dose of Radiation Energy is the amount of radiation energy absorbed by the body.

It is measured in Joules/kilogram which is equivalent to Grays (ie 1J/kg=1Gy) ( ) ( ) ( ) For the same amount of energy, the larger the object absorbing it, the lower the dose. A smaller person would receive a greater Dose (in Grays) than a larger person. In saying this, different types of radiation cause different amounts of damage. Radiation that is more ionising (such as alpha particles) will cause more damage than gamma rays or xrays. We take this into account by talking about a Dose Equivalent, which is found by applying a Quality Factor to the type of Radiation. ( ) ( ) Different Organs in the Body respond with different sensitivities to Radiation doses (this is particularly significant in Radiotherapy) We compare the effective dose when different organs are involved by adding the sums of weighted dose equivalents ( )