Radiation-Absorbed-Dose Converter
Convert between absorbed radiation dose units — gray, kilogray, milligray, rad, millirad, joule/kilogram, joule/gram, and every SI-prefixed gray unit.
Results from this calculator are estimates provided for general informational purposes only, based on formulas, rates, and standards commonly accepted as of 2026. Figures may differ slightly from other calculators or professional sources due to rounding methods, differing assumptions, or regional regulations, and rules may change over time. Always consult a qualified professional — such as a financial advisor, healthcare provider, or other relevant specialist — before making decisions based on these results.
Result
1 Gy = 100 rd
1 Gray = 100 Rads
1 Rad = 0.01 Grays
1 Gy in every supported unit
What is a Radiation-Absorbed-Dose Converter?
This converter measures absorbed dose — a cumulative AMOUNT of energy deposited per unit mass of the absorbing material, with no time component and no biological weighting attached. Its SI unit is the gray (Gy), equal to one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of matter, full stop — named after British radiobiology pioneer Louis Harold Gray. The older rad ("radiation absorbed dose"), equal to 0.01 gray, remains common in older US medical records and legacy equipment. Because absorbed dose is just energy divided by mass, it can equally be written as joule/kilogram, joule/gram, joule/centigram, or joule/milligram — all the same defining formula, just re-expressed for whatever mass unit a calculation already has on hand.
Absorbed dose is easy to confuse with the other three radiation quantities in this wave, so it's worth being explicit: absorbed dose (this converter) is a cumulative total, not a rate; dose rate is that same energy-per-mass quantity but per second — divide a total absorbed dose by an exposure duration and you get a dose rate, or multiply a dose rate by a duration to get an absorbed dose; activity describes how radioactive a source is, independent of anything absorbing its radiation; and exposure is the older, narrower quantity describing ionization specifically in air, not absorbed energy in general or in tissue.
Conversion chart: Gray to Rads
Conversion table
| Gray (Gy) | Rad (rd) |
|---|---|
| 0.01 Gy | 1 rd |
| 0.1 Gy | 10 rd |
| 1 Gy | 100 rd |
| 2 Gy | 200 rd |
| 3 Gy | 300 rd |
| 5 Gy | 500 rd |
| 10 Gy | 1000 rd |
| 20 Gy | 2000 rd |
| 50 Gy | 5000 rd |
| 100 Gy | 10000 rd |
| 1000 Gy | 100000 rd |
Supported Units
| Unit | Symbol | In Gy |
|---|---|---|
| Rad | rd | 0.01 Gy |
| Millirad | mrd | 1E-05 Gy |
| Joule/Kilogram | J/kg | 1 Gy |
| Joule/Gram | J/g | 1000 Gy |
| Joule/Centigram | J/cg | 100000 Gy |
| Joule/Milligram | J/mg | 1000000 Gy |
| Gray | Gy | 1 Gy |
| Exagray | EGy | 1E+18 Gy |
| Petagray | PGy | 1E+15 Gy |
| Teragray | TGy | 1E+12 Gy |
| Gigagray | GGy | 1E+09 Gy |
| Megagray | MGy | 1000000 Gy |
| Kilogray | kGy | 1000 Gy |
| Hectogray | hGy | 100 Gy |
| Dekagray | daGy | 10 Gy |
| Decigray | dGy | 0.1 Gy |
| Centigray | cGy | 0.01 Gy |
| Milligray | mGy | 0.001 Gy |
| Microgray | µGy | 1E-06 Gy |
| Nanogray | nGy | 1E-07 Gy |
| Picogray | pGy | 1E-10 Gy |
| Femtogray | fGy | 1E-13 Gy |
| Attogray | aGy | 1E-16 Gy |
About These Parameters
- Value
- The absorbed dose amount you want to convert, expressed in the "From" unit. Accepts decimals, and can represent anything from a diagnostic imaging patient dose in milligray to an industrial sterilization total dose in kilogray.
- From Unit
- The unit your absorbed-dose figure is currently measured in — a radiotherapy plan's centigray prescription, an older medical record's rad figure, or a physics calculation's raw joule/kilogram.
- To Unit
- The unit you want the result converted into. Use the swap button to flip From and To instantly, which is handy when translating an older US rad-based medical record into the modern SI gray or vice versa.
How Absorbed-Dose Conversion Works
The Formula
Every unit here is defined by a fixed multiplier relative to the gray. To convert a value from one unit to another:
result = value × (factor of "From" unit ÷ factor of "To" unit)
For Gray → Rad: multiply by 100. For example, 1 Gy × 100 = 100 rd.
From the Rad to the Gray
The rad was the standard US unit of absorbed dose for most of the 20th century, defined as 100 erg of absorbed energy per gram of matter. When the SI adopted the gray in 1975 — defined instead as one joule per kilogram, a cleaner fit with the rest of the SI system — the conversion worked out to exactly 100 rad per gray, a nicer relationship than many CGS-to-SI conversions manage. Older US medical records, some legacy radiotherapy equipment, and a handful of regulatory documents still use rad, which is why this converter keeps it alongside the modern gray.
Joule-per-Mass Units Are All the Same Formula
Joule/kilogram, joule/gram, joule/centigram, and joule/milligram aren't four different physical concepts — they're the gray's own defining ratio (energy absorbed ÷ mass) simply re-expressed for whichever mass unit a calculation already has in hand. A physics or dosimetry calculation that starts with energy in joules and a sample mass in grams doesn't need to convert the mass to kilograms first; it can read the result straight off the joule/gram scale, which is exactly 1,000 times the joule/kilogram (gray) value for the same absorbed energy and mass.
Example
An absorbed dose of 1 Gy equals 100 rd. For scale, a single chest CT scan delivers roughly 7 milligray to the patient, a full course of external-beam radiotherapy for a solid tumor commonly totals 60-80 gray delivered over several weeks in small daily fractions, and industrial sterilization of medical devices typically requires a cumulative dose of 25-40 kilogray.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between gray and gray/second?
Gray (this converter) is a cumulative total — the full amount of energy absorbed per kilogram, with no time component. Gray/second (covered by the separate Radiation Converter) is a rate — how fast that absorbed energy is arriving right now. Multiply a gray/second dose rate by the exposure duration in seconds to get the total absorbed dose in gray.
How many rad are in a gray?
Exactly 100 rad equal 1 gray, since the rad is defined as 0.01 gray. This clean 100-to-1 relationship is one of the tidier CGS-to-SI conversions in radiation physics.
Is absorbed dose in gray the same as biological harm?
Not directly — gray measures physical energy absorbed per kilogram, with no adjustment for how damaging a given radiation type is to living tissue. The sievert (covered alongside sievert/second in the Radiation Converter) applies a biological weighting factor on top of the gray to estimate actual biological risk, which is why radiation-protection dose limits are typically expressed in sievert rather than gray.
Why does radiotherapy use centigray instead of gray or rad?
Centigray happens to equal the older rad numerically (both are 0.01 gray), so switching radiotherapy prescriptions from rad to centigray let clinics adopt the SI-compatible unit without changing any of the actual numbers on existing treatment protocols — a typical daily fraction of "200 rad" simply became "200 centigray," with no recalculation needed.