Radiation Converter
The radiation converter is a simple tool to convert the radiation units — of absorbed dose and equivalent/effective dose. For the absorbed dose, you can choose between popular units, such as mGy and rads. In the conversion of equivalent dose, you can select standard mSv or rems but also BEDs — banana equivalent dose, which is an informal measure of ionizing radiation exposure. If you are interested in radiation topics, check out our other calculators:
- Medical radiation calculator — to find out what dose you get from medical procedures such as X-ray or CT scan
- Flight radiation calculator, which estimates the cosmic radiation exposure you get during your airplane flight.
Absorbed dose units
Absorbed dose is the energy deposited in any material by ionizing radiation. The basic unit is gray (Gy), which is equal to joules per kilogram. Other absorbed dose radiation units to which you can convert thanks to our radiation converter are:
- Microgray;
- Milligray;
- Centigray; and
- Rad (CGS unit)
The absorbed dose measure is often used in radiation protection, dosimetry, and radiology.
Equivalent dose units
The equivalent dose is the measure derived from an absorbed dose. It takes into account biological effectiveness according to radiation energy and its type:
HT = ∑ WR × DT,R
where:
- HT — the equivalent dose in sieverts (
Sv) absorbed by tissueT; - DT,R — the absorbed dose in grays (Gy) in tissue T by radiation type R; and
- WR — the radiation weighting factor, representing the relative biological effectiveness.
Radiation weighting factors
Radiation | WR — radiation weighting factor |
|---|---|
x-rays, gamma rays, beta particles, muons | 1 |
neutrons (<1 MeV) | 2.5 + 18.2·e−[ln(E)]²/6 |
neutrons (1-50 MeV) | 5.0 + 17.0·e−[ln(2·E)]²/6 |
neutrons (>50 MeV) | 2.5 + 3.25·e−[ln(0.04·E)]²/6 |
protons, charged pions | 2 |
α particles, nuclear fission products, heavy nuclei | 20 |
The equivalent dose basic unit is sievert, and in the radiation converter, you can change that unit into:
- Microsievert;
- Millisievert;
- Millirem;
- Rem; and
- Banana equivalent dose.
Effective dose units
The effective dose is a tissue-weighted sum of equivalent doses in all specified tissues and organs of the human body:
E = ∑ WT × HT
where:
- E — effective dose to the entire organism; and
- WT — the tissue weighting factor.
In other words, the effective dose shows the sensitivity of different tissues to radiation - for the colon or lung, the effective dose will be higher than the equivalent dose for the brain or salivary glands.
The units are the same as in the equivalent dose because we are multiplying that measure by the dimensionless weighting factor.
Weighting factors for different tissues:
Organs | Tissue weighting factors |
|---|---|
Colon | 0.19 |
Lung | 0.16 |
Red bone marrow | 0.13 |
Stomach | 0.12 |
Breasts | 0.12 |
Gonads | 0.08 |
Bladder | 0.04 |
Liver | 0.04 |
Esophagus | 0.04 |
Thyroid | 0.04 |
Skin | 0.01 |
Bone surface | 0.01 |
Salivary glands | 0.01 |
Brain | 0.01 |
Remainder of the body | 0.12 |
Total | 1.00 |
How to use radiation converter to change between radiation units?
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Check which part of the converter you need. Let's assume you want to convert the effective dose, so choose the bottom part.
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Enter your given value into a proper box. For example, let's take the effective dose of a chest X-ray, which is 0.1 mSv.
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The calculator displays the value in two other units. Now you know that 0.1 mSv is equal to 100 µSv and 0.01 rem. Remember that you can select different units from the drop-down list!
If you are interested in other radiation calculators, be sure to check out our radiation pressure calculator.