Anybody know how to make a homemade Geiger counter?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I think the easiest ones involve a potato.

[Taverner]

1. seriously you can make one at home?

didn't know that

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Google is your friend

http://bit.ly/g8PCqd

http://bit.ly/egXS7y

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. What? No first hand experience?

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. no, they told me I just needed to duct-tape plastic sheeting over the windows

and hey-presto, nothing to worry about.

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFIY--XdDTY&NR=1

[Buck Turgidson]

5. Put a bag of microwave popcorn on the windowsill

When it starts popping...head for the hills.

[gkhouston]

8. Okay, but can I take the popcorn with me?

What do I do if the popcorn sprouts legs and starts following? :shrug:

[Dappleganger]

17. DUzy!

:rofl: :rofl: :popcorn:

[formercia]

6. It won't do you any good for Plutonium

Plutonium requires different instrumentation to detect it.

[wtbymark]

9. Pu is an alpha particle

there are many detectors/surveyors that pick up alpha particles. Unless you are going to spend many thousands of dollars, there are no "consumer" detectors that will tell you what alpha or beta particle, nor the nature of any gamma or x-ray. They just tell you the amount or the count.

[formercia]

27. Plutonium emits Alpha particles

and, like I said, a Geiger Counter won't detect Plutonium.

[wtbymark]

7. there are kits you can buy, but, they can be as much as +/-25% off

and if you buy a used one, it probably hasn't been calibrated in years. Ebay has a few that are still within their calibration date (none too cheap)

[MineralMan]

10. I built one in 1960, from plans in Popular Electronics.

It wasn't difficult, but I had to buy a Geiger tube and some other parts. These days, you can just go to eBay and buy one. Or to any of dozens of retailers who sell them on the Internet. Why build one? Unless you're a good electronics assembler, there are many ways for such a project to go wrong, not work, and cost you the price of the kit.

Why do you want one?

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. I suspect it will one day become as common as a garden tool

[MineralMan]

14. I doubt that very much. It's more likely that some will be sold,

to the survivalist types. Other than that, it's just a curiosity thing. People will be notified if there is any major contamination.

I sold my last counter, and it was a very good, very expensive one, when I closed my mineral specimen business. I stopped shipping radioactive specimens after 9/11, just to avoid hassles, even though it was quite legal. Some of the specimens in my stock were very active alpha emitters, like autunite. Very beautiful, too, as you can see below:



That specimen came from France, but excellent specimens of the mineral also come from the region around Spokane, WA. Interesting.

Autunite is an ore of uranium, and is pretty amazing when you hit it with ultraviolet light. It lights up like an electric bulb. Very popular with collectors for that and its stunning beauty.

[Codeine]

18. What a gorgeous photograph. nt

[MineralMan]

21. Yah. It's not my photo, though. I did have some specimens

that nice, though. The one in the photo is probably 6 cm in its largest dimension. Given its Autunne, France locality, it would sell in today's market for about $250. The Spokane area specimens are generally smaller in crystal size, and not quite as bright in color. They sell for less, but are still very popular with collectors.

Autunite is not a major ore of Uranium, but generally occurs around more important ores. Like lots of phosphate minerals of Uranium, its color is an instant giveaway. Most major uranium ores, though, are black and not that attractive, although uraninite forms very attractive black diamond shaped crystals.

I love rocks.

[MineralMan]

22. Well, it appears that everyone's already sold out of counters.

Interesting. Somewhere in China, they're ramping up production of Geiger-Muller tubes, I'm sure.

[brooklynite]

12. I have a dosimeter from one of the City's old fallout shelters

unfortunately the charging unit died decades ago.

[Junkdrawer]

13. Grab a TEPCO executive and place him near the suspected source of contamination....

Check back in 3 years. If he's still alive, you're good to go.

[dipsydoodle]

16. I know how make ginger beer

Does that count ?

[Codeine]

I have some Giger paintings.

That help?

[dipsydoodle]

20. Awesome

[MineralMan]

23. Just looked that up. Awesome, scary stuff.

[dipsydoodle]

24. His artwork was used to create

The Alien for the films.

[MineralMan]

25. That makes sense.

[Canuckistanian]

19. Funny, I was just thinking about that today

Found this:
http://www.imagesco.com/articles/geiger/01.html
Build Your Own Geiger Counter
Build a fully functional Geiger Counter capable of measuring the three primary forms of radiation; alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The counter is sensitive enough to detect background radiation. In addition you can enhance the basic Geiger Counter by adding a Digital Meter Adapter, RS-232 Adapter with free Windows Radiation monitoring program or a Randam Number Generator. The windows 98/XP radiation program is free and available for downloading, more on this later.

The geiger counter described here may be purchased as a kit, or you may purchase the key components seperately and build the Geiger Counter from scratch. The kit simpilifies the construction. Images SI Inc. has many different geiger counter kits available for purchase. The kit described here is the GCK-02 Kit.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Wah! It's been drizzling all day and the dog hasn't gone out for his daily

constitutional. One of those things you don't think about when you have to worry about radioactive rainwater.