Ionizing radiation deposits energy in the matter being irradiated. The quantity used to express this is the absorbed dose, a physical dose quantity that is dependent on the level of incident radiation and the absorption properties of the irradiated object. Absorbed dose is a physical quantity, and is not a satisfactory indicator of biological effect, so to allow consideration of the stochastic radiological risk, the dose quantities equivalent dose and effective dose were devised by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) and the ICRP to calculate the biological effect of an absorbed dose.