Sep 15 2019
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What is the Geiger Counter for and how to use it

Uso del Contatore Geiger

The Geiger Counter is used to detect environmental radioactivity. It can also be used to check rocks for radiation, ground, building materials, tuff, floor tiles, pozzolanic ceramics, cements, illegal landfills and waste in general.

Therefore, due to these characteristics it is undoubtedly a measurement tool that can be very useful especially when there could be potential health risks.

The correct use of the Geiger counter allows us to evaluate with sufficient precision the activity of a radioactive source and therefore its level of danger.

This article briefly describes how you can use the Geiger counter, for the measurement of natural environmental radioactivity.

Introduction to Radioactivity

Before mentioning how to practically use the Geiger counter, we believe it is essential to first explain some generic concepts on radioactivity.

The source we intend to measure is the most common one to which we are all exposed 24 hours a day, we are referring to the so-called “radioactivity of the natural background” which is practically present everywhere on our planet.

The nature of this ionizing radiation is largely made up of penetrating gamma rays. Fortunately, in practice this is a particularly low radioactive activity, such that it is not dangerous to health.

If today we can live on the land, we owe it above all to the natural screen that our planet offers to cosmic rays, which is mainly made up of the Earth's magnetic field and its atmosphere.

Thanks to the Earth's magnetic field, the very dangerous ionizing radiation is first deflected by the magnetic field and then largely absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere.. The few radioactive particles that manage to reach the earth therefore do not represent a serious problem.

UTILIZZO DEL CONTATORE GEIGER 1

The radioactivity of the so-called environmental background includes several components, first of all it depends on the cosmic rays that constantly arrive at the Earth from space (particularly from the sun), in the form of Gamma rays, that is, radiations of pure energy with a wave-like nature without mass and therefore with a high level of penetration of matter.

In natural radioactivity there are also further radiations of different origins and natures (alfa,beta, gamma), generally emitted by natural or artificial materials that are present in the ground, in the rocks that surround us, in granites, in the tuff, and also underground in the form of the fearsome Radon gas which mainly emits Alpha radiation.

Practically there are also the contributions of building materials, which in their mixture could also contain very small traces of uranium, thorium etc. minerals,

Practical use of the Geiger Counter

Let's begin our tests, the intended objective is to measure the radioactivity of the natural background.

So we turn on the Geiger counter and it will almost immediately begin to measure the radioactivity of the surrounding background.

So if we take note of the results of the different measurements reported on the display by the instrument, we will notice that the fund values ​​will almost never be the same, indeed they will fluctuate continuously approximately from a minimum of: 0,10 to a maximum of: 0,3 uSV /h. (microsievert / ora).

This continuous fluctuation in the activity of the natural fund might be disconcerting at first glance, instead it is perfectly normal since the frequency of emission of the particles is anything but constant, furthermore the various sources that contribute to it are many and very scattered.

However, if we calculated the average of the different instantaneous values ​​acquired several times for a constant and sufficiently long time interval, it will always happen that the result of this operation will practically always give us the same value.

We would like to point out that the reference values ​​of the natural background reported above are to be considered more than safe for our body.

In fact, every form of life on earth has always coexisted with natural radioactivity.

To carry out a reliable measurement of radioactivity that can somehow make up for the non-homogeneity of the radioactive emission, we recommend using the special function “SCALER” Of “Guardian Ray”, which no coincidence has been implemented in ours Geiger counter.

This is a long-term measure, where the acquisition or sampling time is automatically set at 600 seconds.

For this reason this measurement technique is called: “SCALER”, that is, a special mode of radioactivity acquisition that allows the Geiger counter to significantly increase its sensitivity and precision.

The final result is therefore much more reliable than the traditional detection method which is instead based on limited sampling times and generally not exceeding one minute.

With the Geiger counter scaler it is possible to appreciate even insignificant levels of radioactivity, as in the case of only slightly radioactive objects or food.

The best Geiger counters made in Italy, True Italian excellence.

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