Introduction to Radiation Units

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/radiation+intensity http://www.hicare.jp/en/09/hi03.html
 Radioactive source

Radioisotopes: artificial sources Radioactive ore: natural sources

http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/radioactive-sources.html
 Radioactive source unit : Activity (A)
Radioactivity or the strength of radioactive source
(the rate at which the isotope decays)

• International Unit
• becquerel (Bq)
• (old) U.S. Unit
• curie (Ci)
• 1 Ci = 37 GBq
• 1 mCi = 37 MBq
• 1 µCi = 37 kBq

• 1 Bq = 1 event of radiation emission per second

• One curie is a large amount of radioactivity

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/ionizing.html http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/RadiationSafety/theory/activity.htm
 Radioactive source unit :
Activity (A)
• One becquerel is an extremely
small amount of radioactivity.
• Commonly used multiples of the
Bq unit are
kBq (kilobecquerel),
MBq (megabecquerel), and
GBq (gigabecquerel).

• An old and still popular unit of

measuring radioactivity is the curie (Ci)
• Commonly used subunits are The curie is a quantity of
mCi (millicurie), radioactive material in which 3.7
µCi (microcurie),
nCi (nanocurie), and
x 1010 atoms disintegrate per
pCi (picocurie). second.
This is approximately the amount
of radioactivity emitted by one
gram (1 g) of Radium 226.

Becquerel (Bq) or Curie (Ci) is a measure of the rate (not energy)

of radiation emission from a source.
 *Radioactive source unit : Energy
the energy of the radiation is responsible for its ability to penetrate
matter

The energy of ionizing radiation is measured in electronvolts (eV)

(1 eV is the kinetic energy gained by an electron passing through a potential
difference of one volt)

Cobalt-60 will emit 1.33 and 1.17 Iridium-192 will emit 0.31, 0.41,
MeV Gamma rays and 0.60 MeV Gamma rays

Co-60 has more material penetrating power and, therefore, is more

dangerous and requires more shielding.
*Radioactive source unit : Intensity (I)

Radiation intensity is the amount

of energy passing through a given
area that is perpendicular to the
direction of radiation travel in a
given unit of time.
 * Radioactive source unit :
Intensity (I)
Since it is difficult to
measure the strength of a
radioactive source based on
its activity, which is the
number of atoms that decay
and emit radiation in one
second, the strength of a
source is often referred to in
terms of its intensity.

Measuring the intensity of a source

is sampling the number of photons
emitted from the source in some
particular time period, which is
directly related to the number of
disintegrations in the same time
period (the activity).
 Radiation medium passage unit :
(air) Exposure (X)
Exposure is the quantity most commonly used to express the amount of
radiation delivered to a point
International Unit
coulomb per kilogram (C/kg)
exposure measured by “counting” the
ionization produced within air due to the
radiation.
An exposure of 1 roentgen produces 2.08 x
109 ion pairs per cm3 of air at standard
temperature and pressure (STP); 1 cm 3 of air
at STP has a mass of 0.001293 g.
The official definition of the roentgen is the
amount of exposure that will produce 2.58 x
10-4 C (of ionization) per kg of air.
A coulomb is a unit of electrical charge. Since
ionization produces charged particles (ions),
the amount of ionization produced can be
expressed in coulombs. One coulomb of
charge is produced by 6.24 x 1018 ionizations.
 * Radiation passage unit :
Exposure (X)
Exposure (X) is usually defined as the amount of
charge (i.e. the sum of all ions of the same sign)
produced in a unit mass of air when the
interacting photons are completely absorbed
(stopped) in that (air) mass

X = dQ/dm

U.S. (old) Unit

roentgen (R)
- defined only for measurement in air
- applies only to x- and gamma rays up to
energies of about 3 MeV

1 R = 2.58 x 10-4 C/kg

1 mR = 0.258 C/kg
1 µR = 258 C/kg

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/RadiationSafety/theory/Measures.htm
 Radiation medium passage unit :
(air) Exposure rate (dX/dt)

• Exposure rate (and later, dose rate) is the

exposure produced per unit of time.
• The SI unit of exposure rate is the [C/kg]
per second or (in old units) [R/s].
• In radiation protection it is common to
indicate these rate values
“per hour” (e.g. R/h).
 Radiation medium passage unit :
(air) KERMA (K)
another radiation quantity that is KERMA, stand for
sometimes used to express the Kinetic Energy Released per unit MAss (of
radiation concentration delivered air)
to a point, such as the entrance
surface of a patient's body. It is a measure of the amount of radiation energy, in the
unit of joules (J), actually deposited in or absorbed in a
unit mass (kg) of air.
This is a quantity that fits into
the SI scheme OR
the mean energy transferred from the indirectly ionizing
It quantifies the average amount radiation to charged particles (electrons) in the medium
of energy transferred from dEtr per unit mass dm
indirectly ionizing radiation to
directly ionizing radiation without
concern as to what happens
after this transfer

the quantity, kerma, is expressed in the units of

J/kg which is also the radiation unit, the gray (G)

http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2/RADQU/
 * Radiation passage unit :
(air) KERMA (K)

The quantity, air kerma, has two things going for it and is
beginning to replace the quantity, exposure

1. It is easy to measure with an ionization chamber. Since the ionization

produced in air by radiation is proportional to the energy released in the air by the
radiation, ionization chambers actually measure air kerma as well as exposure. An
ionization chamber can be calibrated to read air kerma, or a conversion factor can
be used to convert between air kerma and exposure values.

2. It is expressed in a practical metric SI unit. Air kerma (energy released in a

unit mass of air) is expressed in the units of joule per kilogram, J/kg. This is also
the unit gray, Gy, used for absorbed dose. Here is the easy part. If we know air
kerma measured (or calculated) at a point where soft tissue is located, the
absorbed dose in the tissue will be just about equal to the air kerma.
 Radiation unit onto material :
Absorbed Dose (D)
• International Unit gray (Gy)
• U.S. Unit rad
• 1 rad = 0.01 Gy
• 1 mrad = 0.01 mGy
the absorbed dose is the amount of
energy that ionizing radiation imparts to
• 1 µrad = 0.01 µGy
a given mass of matter.

The absorbed dose is used to relate

the amount of ionization that x-rays or
gamma rays cause in air to the level of
biological damage that would be
caused in living tissue placed in the
radiation field

The most commonly used unit for

absorbed dose is the “rad”
(Radiation Absorbed Dose)
 * Radiation onto material unit
: absorbed dose (D)

• the mean energy  imparted by ionizing

radiation to matter of mass m in a finite It is usually measured
volume V in ergs per gram or
joules per kilogram.

** (LINEAR) STOPPING POWER : (S)

rarely measured and must be calculated from theory. For electrons and positrons the
Bethe theory is used to calculate stopping powers

The linear stopping power is defined as the It is usually

expectation value of the rate of energy loss per unit measured in
path length (dE/dx) of the charged particle. MeV/cm.
 (air) KERMA (K) and Absorbed Dose (D)
KERMA (Kinetic Energy Released in a MAterial)

where dEtrans is the sum of the initial kinetic energies of all

charged ionizing particles liberated by uncharged ionizing
particles in a material of mass dm
The SI unit of kerma is the joule per kilogram (J/kg),
termed gray (Gy).

Absorbed dose D, is the energy absorbed

per unit mass

SI unit of D is the gray [Gy]

In diagnostic radiology, Kerma
1 rad = 0,01 J/kg = 0,01 Gy and D are equal.
 Equivalent dose (H)
Measurement of different tissue biological effects due to equal
energy of different kinds of radiation

biological effects relative biological effect, RBE

different kinds of radiation (quality factor, QF)

• H (Sv) = RBE x D (Gy)

• H (rem) = RBE x D (rad)
rem, rontgen equivalent man

1 rem = 0,01 Sv
In air
Absorbed dose
In tissue
 biological effects relative biological effect, RBE
different kinds of radiation (quality factor, QF)

WT
Organ or Tissue
Gonads 0.25
Breast 0.15 Quality
factor Absorbed
Red bone marrow 0.12
dose equal
Lung 0.12
to a unit
Type of radiation
Thyroid 0.03 (QF) dose
Bone surfaces 0.03
equivalenta

Remainder 1
0.30
X-, gamma, or beta
Whole Body 2
1.00 1 1
radiation

Alpha particles, multiple-

charged particles, fission
fragments and heavy
particles of unknown
charge 20 0.05
Neutrons of unknown
10 0.1
energy
High-energy protons 10 0.1
 Radiation Units and Conversion Factors
Conventional
Exposure SI Unit Conversions
Unit
coulomb/kg of
Exposure roentgen (R) 1 C/kg = 3876 R
air (C/kg)
1 R = 258 uC/kg
Dose rad (R) gray (Gy) 1 Gy = 100 rad
Dose equivalent rem sievert (Sv) 1 Sv = 100 rem
nversion of one system
Activity of units
curie (Ci)to another.
becquerel (Bq) 1 mCi = 37 mBq

http://www.sprawls.org/ppmi2/RADQU/
 Radiation Units in
Medical Applications
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eq/eng/04_recovery.htm