Radiation Converter

How to use this radiation dose converter

What this calculator does

This calculator converts two different radiation quantities without mixing them. The Absorbed dose group converts gray-based absorbed dose, which describes energy deposited per unit mass, among microgray, milligray, centigray, gray, and rad. The Equivalent / effective dose group converts an already established sievert-based equivalent or effective dose among microsievert, millisievert, sievert, millirem, rem, and the informal banana equivalent dose. The unit identities follow standard SI and conventional conversions: NIST lists 1 rad = 0.01 Gy and 1 rem = 0.01 Sv, while the CDC explains the distinction between absorbed dose and biological-risk-oriented dose quantities in its radiation measurement guidance.

The converter is a unit-conversion tool, not a health-risk estimator. A gray and a sievert have the same dimensional expression of joules per kilogram but represent different quantities. This page therefore never converts absorbed dose directly into equivalent or effective dose because that step depends on radiation weighting and, for effective dose, tissue weighting. Those concepts are addressed by the ICRP Publication 103 recommendations.

When to use it

• Translate a radiology or dosimetry value reported in mGy into Gy or rad without manually moving decimal places.
• Convert a radiation-protection reading between µSv, mSv, Sv, mrem, and rem when comparing SI and U.S. conventional reporting.
• Normalize values from different reports into one unit before recording them in a worksheet or technical note.
• Export a current conversion set to a real Excel workbook for documentation, review, or further analysis.

How to calculate

1. The calculator opens with a complete demonstration: the absorbed-dose rows represent 1 mGy = 0.001 Gy = 0.1 rad, and the equivalent-dose rows represent 100 µSv = 0.1 mSv = 0.01 rem. The Excel workbook is already built and validated, so Download Excel is available immediately.
2. Replace the value in any row of the group you want to convert. The other two visible rows in that group synchronize automatically. Numbers may use a decimal point and standard comma thousands grouping, such as 1,250.5. Scientific notation and decimal commas are intentionally rejected to avoid ambiguous reinterpretation.
3. Use the unit selector beside any row to display the same physical quantity in a different supported unit. Changing a selector preserves the underlying dose and only changes that row's representation.
4. Read the primary gray and sievert results, the conventional rad and rem results, and the complete conversion table. All outputs come from the same canonical model, so the cards, synchronized inputs, table, accessible summary, and Excel cells stay consistent.
5. Select Download Excel to create a fresh workbook from the current validated controls. Select Reset to clear the demonstration values and computed state. After Reset, Download Excel is disabled until at least one dose group again contains a valid value; any entered invalid value must be fixed before export.

Input guide

Absorbed dose value 1, Absorbed dose value 2, and Absorbed dose value 3 are three synchronized decimal inputs for the same absorbed dose. They are required as a group: after Reset, entering one valid nonnegative value is enough to repopulate the other two. Their unit selectors, Unit for absorbed dose value 1, Unit for absorbed dose value 2, and Unit for absorbed dose value 3, support µGy, mGy, cGy, Gy, and rad. A realistic example is 1 mGy. Raising the entered value raises every absorbed-dose conversion proportionally. A common mistake is treating rad as if it were rem; rad belongs to absorbed dose, while rem belongs to equivalent dose.

Equivalent dose value 1, Equivalent dose value 2, and Equivalent dose value 3 are synchronized decimal inputs for one equivalent or effective dose. Their selectors, Unit for equivalent dose value 1, Unit for equivalent dose value 2, and Unit for equivalent dose value 3, support µSv, mSv, Sv, mrem, rem, and BED. A realistic example is 0.1 mSv. Increasing the entered value increases every equivalent-dose conversion proportionally. Do not use this group to turn a measured Gy value into Sv unless an appropriate radiation- and tissue-weighting calculation has already been performed. BED is only a rough communication analogy; this converter uses 1 BED ≈ 0.1 µSv and clearly labels it as informal.

All six value fields accept nonnegative finite decimal values. Grouping commas must follow the familiar 1,000 pattern; a value like 1,5 is rejected rather than silently treated as 15. Negative dose values, blank current source fields, unsupported symbols, and values large enough to overflow a derived conversion are invalid. Zero is valid and converts exactly to zero in all related units.

Output guide

Absorbed dose in grays is the canonical absorbed-dose result in Gy; Absorbed dose in rads is the same quantity in rad. Both are exact unit identities driven by whichever absorbed-dose row you most recently edited. Equivalent dose in sieverts is the canonical sievert result; Equivalent dose in rem is its conventional-unit equivalent. Zero means a zero entered dose, not “no risk,” and a larger number means only a larger dose quantity – it is not by itself a clinical interpretation.

The three header pills summarize the current absorbed dose, current equivalent dose, and Excel readiness. The All supported conversions table lists the quantity, unit, and current value for every supported unit. The table is a set of exact or fixed-factor conversions, not a recommendation. The workbook reproduces these typed model values rather than copying rounded text from the page.

Worked example

At startup, 1 mGy is converted to gray by multiplying by 10 ^{– 3}, giving 0.001 Gy. Since 1 Gy = 100 rad, 0.001 Gy × 100 = 0.1 rad. In the equivalent-dose group, 0.1 mSv equals 0.0001 Sv. Since 1 Sv = 100 rem, 0.0001 Sv × 100 = 0.01 rem; multiplying 0.1 mSv by 1,000 gives 100 µSv. These are the same values shown in the first-open controls, result cards, conversion table, live summary, and exported workbook.

Learn more

NIST's SI conversion factors for radiology document the gray/rad and sievert/rem factors used here. The CDC's guide to measuring radiation and radioactivity provides additional context on dose, dose rate, and the distinction between SI and U.S. conventional units.