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I've wanted to build a geiger counter in the past but I've always been discouraged because it seems unlikely that I would be able to use it for anything other t
by why_at 28d ago
I've wanted to build a geiger counter in the past but I've always been discouraged because it seems unlikely that I would be able to use it for anything other than maybe testing one or two things in my house like smoke detectors.
- Animats 28d agoYou won't get much from the americium in smoke detectors. They're alpha emitters, and ordinary Geiger counters will not detect alphas. You can build an alpha detector.[1] Even a sheet of paper or a modest distance in air will stop alpha particles, so the detector has to be exposed and the emitter has to be close. A detector inside a glass tube gets nothing from alphas. [1] https://hackaday.com/2022/01/22/detecting-alpha-particles-using-copper-wire-and-high-voltage/ https://hackaday.com/2022/01/22/detecting-alpha-particles-us...
- ipdashc 28d ago[dead]