:: curiosity on geigers

[3roomlab]

after browsing this site, i have the strange urge to want to make a DIY Geiger and see what else emits radiation around my neighborhood ...

http://safecast.org/tilemap/

have anyone tried tinkering with any geigers?

then again, looking at the deep blue of what is suppose to be ambient background radiation and the ... cyan that i see on local data, my entire island is actually lightly radioactive !

[Stonent]

I was given 2 CDV-700 Geiger counters about a year ago both were considered non-working and there was only 1 tube between them.  One had a bad transformer and tends to short out but the other one seems to be ok.

I can pick up some of the beta and gamma that are leftovers on smoke detectors (they are mainly alpha, but I don't have an alpha probe and they are expensive)

Two really good radiation / Geiger counter youtube channels are antiprotons and bionerd23.

Antiprotons goes into a lot of the details of why things are radioactive and also he takes unknown radioactive samples and analyzes them with his gamma spectrometer.  Bionerd23 has gone to Chernobyl a few times and taken readings, she also collects samples of various things (like antiprotons does) but she also had her thyroid checked a few years back and they injected her with technetium99m.  She was able to collect some of it from a urine sample and has it in her collection.

If you can get some potassium chloride salt (sold as lite salt or low/no-sodium salt), it is mildly radioactive, not dangerous at all, but enough to make a Geiger counter tick slightly more than just normal background.

[3roomlab]

yea i watched some of those vids.

i was really curious how much of all those radiation leaks really got to us, and then i found that my island is really high on ambient radiation ... the cyan color markings looks like nothing but it does look creepy. maybe its why there is so much cancer on the island?

what else could be a reason only a certain locality has so much higher radiation than neighbor countries? nuclear radiation tests?

[VK5RC]

Background radiation from naturally occurring elements (that also happen to be slightly radioactive) is common.  Radon gas can be emitted especially from granites and can be an issue in basements.  Potassium is also a little radioactive naturally.  Remember that even with massive radioactive leaks such as Chernobyl,  the social impact esp on anxiety and depression acting via alcoholism and suicide,  in Chernobyl and surrounds  has had far more impact than the actual radiation.  Also cancer is a really common process can effect up to 40% of a normal population,  Japan has one of the longest life expectancy,  so it's cancer rates are higher (cancer risk goes up with age).  If you are really concerned I would try to find out what isotopes were leaking and what type of radiation they emit to see if the Geiger counter will detect it at levels you might expect,  it otherwise could be an expensive exercise. ?

[Stonent]

Here's a detector you can build from a large transistor.
2N3055 Alpha Detector:

To really know what radioactive things are in your area you would need a gamma spectrometer.

[radioFlash]

I got one of the cheap kits from ebay and a Russian surplus Geiger tube. It's a fun little project. A Geiger counter gives you counts (the clicks you hear) for radiation it detects, but converting those counts into something meaningful (the biological impact of that radiation) is pretty hard because it depends on the efficiency of the detector, the energy of the radiation, what kind of radiation (neutron, beta, gamma), how long is the exposure, etc. Unless you have the equipment to calibrate the detector, characterize the radiation, and a good understanding of all the factors involved, you should consider these things toys and not base any real safety decisions on them.

BTW, Geiger counters have high voltages across the tube, so if you play with one, be careful.