GENERAL PHYSICS FORMULAS

SI Base Units
Base Quantity

Unit Name

Amount of substance

Mole

Unit
Symbol
Mol

Electric current

Ampere

Length

Centimeters
Or
Inches

Cm

Luminous intensity

Candela

Cd

Mass

Kilogram

Kg

Time

Second

in

When Are They Used

The amount of a
chemical substance that
contains as many
elementary entities
(atoms, molecules, ions,
electrons, or photons)
In radiology we use
Amperage in our mAs.
We stepdown from
amperage to
milliamperage (mA) for
the use of how many
protons are projected
towards the patient.
We may sometimes use
cm or inches to measure
the thickness of a
patient or to measure
the SID (source to image
distance)
Luminous Intensity, in a
given direction, a source
that emits
monochromatic
radiation of frequency
540x10^12 Hertz and
has a radiant intensity in
the direction of 1/683
Watt per steradian.
Kilograms is a unit of
measurement to weigh
something/someone
Used with mA stated
above, we combine
seconds with mA to
create mAs. Which is the
amount of photons
projected to a patient

Temperature

Kelvin

per x amount of
seconds.
Used along side with
Fahrenheit and Celcius
to measure temperature

SI Derived Units
Name
Square meter
Cubic meter
Meter per
second
Meter per
second squared
Hertz

Symbol
M2
M3
m
s
m
s2
Hz

Newton
Pascal
Joule
Watt

N
Pa
J
W

Coulomb
Volt

C
V

When Are They Used

Area
Volume
Speed and Velocity
Acceleration
Hertz is typically used to measure the current in the
x-ray tube
Force
Pressure and stress
Energy, work, quantity of heat
Watts is used to measure the amount of electrical
power and radiant flux.
Electric charge and quantity of electricity.
Volts are used in the xray circuit but are upgraded to
Kilovolts inside the tube through the step up
transformer to increase the current inside the tube.
(used for the kVp which determines the penetrability
of the photons)
As well as electrical potential difference and
electromotive force

Ohm
Electrical resistance
Weber
Telsa
Becquerel
Gray
Sievert

Wb
T
Bq
Gy
Sv

Magnetic Flux
Magnetic Flux Density
Activity of the radionuclide
Absorbed dose, specific energy
Dose equivalent

Prefixes used to designate multiples of base units

Pref
x

Symb
ol

Meaning

Multiple of base
unit

Tera
Giga
Meg
a
Kilo
Centi
Milli

T
G
M

Trillion
Billion
Million

1,000,000,000,000
1,000,000,000
1,000,000

Scientif
c
Notation
1012
109
106

k
c
m

1,000
1/100 or .01
1/1000 or .001

103
10-2
10-3

Micro

Thousand
One hundredth
One
thousandth
One millionth

10-6

Nano

One billionth

pico

One trillionth

1/1000000 or .
000001
1/1000000000000
or .000000001
1/1000000000000
or .000000000001

10-9
10-12