Re: [TCML] Need ALPHA WINDOW to detect x-rays in phantom streams

[<pterren@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My pancake Geiger counter from Black cat systems does x-rays down to 7kV and 
has a mica window for alpha.
I imaging shielding will be a big thing to get reliable results.

Peter
tesladownunder.com

-----Original Message----- 
From: William Beaty
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 1:04 PM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Cc: Jeff Behary
Subject: [TCML] Need ALPHA WINDOW to detect x-rays in phantom streams


On Wed, 21 Nov 2012, Jeff Behary wrote:
> (Though, recently, lightning experts in Melborne FL have witnessed some of 
> my coils and suggested the possibilty of very low level X-Rays being 
> produced from the streams - they were the first experimenters to document 
> non-vacuum X-Rays generated from lightning as well as certain laboratory 
> sparks.super cool work!)

On detecting TC x-rays, here's a possible source of confusion of which to
be aware.  Geiger counters are extremely sensitive to x-rays; much more
sensitive than any phosphor screen ...but this only is true of fairly hard
x-rays.  Down below 20KV, soft x-rays have a hard time getting through a
glass x-ray tube, much less a metal GM counter wall.  They also don't
penetrate far into water, so they're responsible for the early cases
of melanoma (back before the medical designers learned to include a
low-cut filter.)

So, in order to solidly reject the possibility of soft x-rays, you really
need an alpha-window GM counter.  If you only have an inexpensive
beta/gamma detector, then you cannot use it to reject the existence of
all x-rays.

But also, I've seen one GM counter which, when a "vacuum tester" coil was
waved about 9" away from the probe cable, responded with great quantities
of random-seeming clicks.  I wouldn't have expected such RF interference
to sound like a particle flux, yet it did.   No buzz, no 120Hz.  Best to
use a tiny kit-style GM counter inside a metal box with a screen-window.

Here's a brief holiday sale on a tiny GM counter kit, $9.00 without GM
tube...

  http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G18410

Then just buy a 712 alpha-window tube for about $100 from sparkfun etc.,
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8875?
http://www.lndinc.com/products/711/
http://www.imagesco.com/geiger/geiger-counter-tubes.html

Also:
  https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10742?
  http://www.electronickitsbychaneyelectronics.com/prodinfo.asp?number=c6998


(((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                            SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb at amasci com                         http://amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits   amateur science, hobby projects, sci fair
Seattle, WA  206-762-3818    unusual phenomena, tesla coils, weird sci
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