Piezo means pressure, so piezoelectric means that pressure is generated when electrical energy is applied to a quartz crystal. When electrical energy is applied to the face of the crystal, the shape of the crystal changes as a function of the polarity of the applied electrical energy. As the crystal expands and contracts it produces compressions and rarefactions, and creates sound waves. When this material is struck by sound waves it creates electrical currents.
Thus, a piezoelectric crystal can produce a pulse of mechanical energy (pressure pulse) by electrically exciting the crystal (transmitter), and they can produce a pulse of electrical energy by mechanically exciting the crystal (receiver). This ultrasound physics principle is called the piezoelectric effect (pressure electricity), which was discovered by Pierre and Jacques Curie in 1880, and is used to generate ultrasound waves. Instead of quartz crystals, piezoelectric ceramics such as barium titanate or lead zirconate titanate are also used, which are crystalline materials with similar piezoelectric properties.

See also Temporal Peak Intensity.

(J) The SI unit of work or energy.
Definition: The work done by a force of 1 Newton acting to move an object through a distance of 1 meter in the direction in which the force is applied.
Since kinetic energy is one half the mass times the square of the velocity, 1 joule is the kinetic energy of a mass of two kilograms moving at a velocity of 1 m/sec.
The joule is named for the British physicist James P. Joule.

The thermal effect of ultrasound is caused by absorption of the ultrasound beam energy. As the ultrasound waves are absorbed, their energy is converted into heat. The higher the frequency, the greater the absorbed dose, converted to heat according the equation: f = 1/T where T is the period as in simple harmonic motion. Ultrasound is a mechanical energy in which a pressure wave travels through tissue. Heat is produced at the transducer surface and also tissue in the depth can be heated as ultrasound is absorbed.
The thermal effect is highest in tissue with a high absorption coefficient, particularly in bone, and is low where there is little absorption. The temperature rise is also dependent on the thermal characteristics of the tissue (conduction of heat and perfusion), the ultrasound intensity and the length of examination time. The intensity is also dependent on the power output and the position of the tissue in the beam profile. The intensity at a particular point can be changed by many of the operator controls, for example power output, mode (B-mode, color flow, spectral Doppler), scan depth, focus, zoom and area of color flow imaging. The transducer face and tissue in contact with the transducer can be heated.

See also Thermal Units Per Hour and Ultrasound Radiation Force.

Absorption is the transfer of energy from the ultrasound beam to the tissue. Absorption of acoustic energy increases the temperature of the tissue. This phenomenon, known as thermal radiation, has been used with some limited success to treat cancerous lesions in the breast and prostate gland. The absorption is proportional to the frequency.

See also Absorbed Dose, Thermal Effect, Thermotherapy.

(Z) The acoustic impedance is dependent on the density of the material in which sound is propagated through. When an ultrasonic wave crosses an interface between tissues with different acoustic impedance, the wave divides in 2 components, and the energy of the reflected components directly relates with the acoustic impedance.
The greater the impedance the more dense the material, and the greater the difference in acoustic impedance between two adjacent tissues the more reflective will be their boundary.
The acoustic impedance (the unit is 'Rayl') is the product of the sound velocity and the physical dense.
The acoustic impedance is very high between air or bone and other body tissues, therefore not enough energy crosses these interfaces, and no information can be collected from organs placed behind them.

See also Mirror Artifact, Reverberation Artifact, Cross Talk and Ultrasound Physics.