What is meant by mass attenuation coefficient?

The mass attenuation coefficient is a measure of the probability of the interaction that occurs between incident photons and the matter of the unit mass per unit area.

What is attenuation coefficient in radiography?

The attenuation coefficient is a measure of how easily a material can be penetrated by an incident energy beam (e.g. ultrasound or x-rays). It quantifies how much the beam is weakened by the material it is passing through.

How do you use mass attenuation coefficient?

The Mass Attenuation Coefficient, μ/ρ from which μ/ρ can be obtained from measured values of Io, I and x. Note that the mass thickness is defined as the mass per unit area, and is obtained by multiplying the thickness t by the density ρ, i.e., x = ρt.

Why do we use mass attenuation coefficient?

Thus, it characterizes how easily a mass of material can be penetrated by a beam of light, sound, particles, or other energy or matter. In addition to visible light, mass attenuation coefficients can be defined for other electromagnetic radiation (such as X-rays), sound, or any other beam that can be attenuated.

What does mass attenuation coefficient depend on?

The attenuation coefficient is dependent upon the type of material and the energy of the radiation. Generally, for electromagnetic radiation, the higher the energy of the incident photons and the less dense the material in question, the lower the corresponding attenuation coefficient will be.

What is the difference between mass attenuation coefficient and linear attenuation coefficient?

The mass attenuation coefficient is a normalisation of the linear attenuation coefficient per unit density of a material producing a value that is constant for a given element or compound (i.e. it is independent of the density of the material) 1,3. It is expressed in cm2/g (square centimetres per gram).

What is linear and mass attenuation coefficient?

The mass attenuation coefficient is a normalization of the linear attenuation coefficient per unit density of a material producing a value that is constant for a given element or compound (i.e. it is independent of the density of the material) 1,3. It is expressed in cm2/g (square centimeters per gram).

What is effective attenuation coefficient?

The effective attenuation coefficient (EAC), which is proportional to the geometric mean of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients, can be estimated in a simpler fashion by multidistance light decay measurements.