The SZ effects from clusters provide information on the properties of those clusters, and can also be used to obtain important cosmological information. The types of science that can be deduced from SZ effects, and the sizes of the effects that need to be measured, are summarized in Table I. This section summarizes the procedures needed to extract physics from SZ effect measurements, along with the optical and X-ray data that are essential supplements, and how uncertainties in the data impact the science that can be extracted.
| Use | Size of effect (mK) | Critical issues (Sections) |
| Cluster energetics | 0.5 | 2.1.1 |
| Cluster baryon count | 0.5 | 2.1.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2 |
| Cluster gas structure | 0.5 | 2.3.1, 2.3.2 |
| Cluster mass distribution | 0.5 | 2.1.1, 2.2.1 |
| Cluster radial peculiar velocity | 0.05 | 2.1.1, 2.3.2, 2.5.1, 2.5.2 |
| Cluster Hubble diagram | 0.5 | 2.1.1, 2.2.2, 2.6.1, 2.6.2 |
| Blind surveys and number counts | 0.1 | 2.2.2, 2.3.2 |
| Baryon mass fraction evolution | 0.1 | 2.1.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2 |
| Microwave background temperature | 0.1 | 2.1.1, 2.5.3 |
| Cluster formation studies | 0.02 | 2.1.1 |
| Cluster transverse peculiar velocity | 0.01 | 2.3.2, 2.11.1 |