Understanding The Difference Between kVp and mAs

In this week's video, Eric from Olympic Health Physics explains the difference between kVp and mAs. He also discusses why this information is important to understand when working with diagnostic imaging equipment like X-Ray machines.
Video Chapters
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00:00 Introduction to understanding the difference between kVp and mAs
00:54 Components of an x-ray tube
01:16 Understanding electrical charges
02:27 Explanation of how an x-ray tube functions
03:24 Application of potential difference to an x-ray tube
04:33 Understanding kVp
05:02 Understanding mAs
06:08 The mAs formula and definition of amps and Coulombs
07:52 Review of kVp and mAs
kVp controls the penetrating power of your x-ray beam or how energetic the x-rays are.
mAs controls the number of x-rays
To learn more about medical physics, radiation safety, and other radiology content, check out our blog at: www.olympichp.com/blog/
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[@Reem-mi1hp]

Please create more first year videos to help us beginners! It has been very challenging to find videos that are actually clear and thorough.

[@radwi69]

Thank you for posting!
I remember reading in the book of Radiology Physics by Christensen: KvP is Quality of the x-ray photons generated (their energy; weak - strong), and mAs is the Quantity of photons produced.
I hope it helps!

[@artistry2019]

Im a new dental assistant going to get my xray license and KVP vs MAS was supper confusing for me . Was so hard to find a video that would explain it in a way I would understand. You did a great job explaining it. Thanks and keep up the great work

[@ona1098]

Great video. Explained the difference between mAs and kVp so clearly.

[@olympichp]

Thanks so much for your feedback!

[@Reem-mi1hp]

AWESOME VIDEO !!!! This helped me very much! Thank you!

[@user-zx9ki8tk4r]

This was very helpful to me. Thank you

[@user-cs2yz6wm3n]

Very well explained! Than you :)

[@THE_YEZDI_VLOGGER]

I loved your video sir... Keep making videos.

[@olympichp]

Thank you so much!

[@Q-Bits8]

I read that kVp also increases qantity of electrons going from the anode to the cathode. It increases both quality and quantity, while mAS only increases quantity. Is this true?

[@olympichp]

It is true that increasing the mAs increases the quantity of electrons going from the anode to the cathode. However, increasing the kVp only increases the energy of the resultant X-Ray beam - it doesn't increase the quantity of electrons.

[@stoyantodorov1917]

@@olympichp It is absolutely true that increasing the kVp shifts the mean electron energy to a higher value (more average energy and hence higher penetration), but it is also true that a 15% increase in kVp is equivalent to a 200% increase of mAs. This is due to the physics of X-ray generation - the more average energy the electrons have when hitting the anode the more X-ray photons are being generated. However, indeed, increasing the kVp does not change the number of electrons generated at the cathode.

[@PaulPassarelli]

One paragraph from the book "X-Rays for dummies" turned into a 9 minute video.
Not quite sure what to think about that.

[@gbrowne0627]

I feel like I'm so close to understanding this and I still can't 😭

[@olympichp]

Please reach out by email if we can help you understand anything related to this video.