Re: Thinking About A Geiger Counter

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Bob (R.A.) Jones" <a1accounting@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

> Original poster: "Malcolm Watts" <m.j.watts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
snip.
>  >
>  > I very well know that high voltages striking objects is something that
>  > creates X-RAYS.  My intended meaning is that Geiger counters count
>  > particles, not x-rays or other radiated energy.
>  >
>  > Skip
>
> Sorry, not true. They detect gamma rays with ease. In fact the clicks
> you get from background radiation are mostly if not all, gamma rays.
> When I built mine, the first measurements I took were of gamma rays
> leaking out of a supposedly radiation proof locker with some Cs-137
> samples inside.
>
> Malcolm
>
snip

More specifically Geiger counters detect ionizing particles/radiation
(photons i.e. UV light x-rays gamma rays) that have sufficient penetrating
power to get in to the tube and ionize the gas it contains.
They can probably detect neutral particles too via nuclear reactions which
create ionizing particles/radiation but with a very very  little
(negligible) efficiency.

As has already been pointed out x-rays are generated when electrons, of
sufficient velocity strike not only a solid object but a gas or for that
matter a liquid.


R A Jones