Question

Of the following groups of technical factors, which will produce the greatest radiographic density?

1. 10 mAs, 74 kV, 44-in. SID
2. 10 mAs, 74 kV, 36-in. SID 3. 5 mAs, 85 kV, 48-in. SID
4. 5 mAs, 85 kV, 40-in. SID
Answer:
10 mAs, 74 kV, 36-in. SID

Answer 1

The option that will produce the greatest radiographic density is 10 mAs, 74 kV, 36-in. SID, as a result of direct proportionality to mAs and inversely squared relationship with distance.

Step-by-step explanation:

In radiography, radiographic density refers to the degree of darkening on a radiographic image and is influenced by several technical factors including milliampere-seconds (mAs), kilovoltage (kV), and source-to-image distance (SID). Out of the given options, the configuration that will produce the greatest radiographic density is 10 mAs, 74 kV, 36-in. SID. This is because radiographic density is directly proportional to the mAs and inversely proportional to the square of the distance (according to the inverse square law). Thus, keeping the mAs and kV constant, a decrease in the SID from 44 inches to 36 inches results in an increase in radiographic density, due to a stronger concentration of X-ray photons over the imaging receptor area.