Geiger counter

You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.

Infobox Laboratory equipment
[[Image:Image:Geiger counter.jpg|300px| ]] A modern geiger counter
Data 1:
Data 2:	Geiger-Müller counter
Data 3 (data hidden if data3 empty or not defined):	Particle detector

A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger-Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation.

Description

Geiger counters are used to detect radiation, usually alpha and beta radiation, but also other types of radiation as well. The sensor is a Geiger-Müller tube, an inert gas-filled tube (usually helium, neon or argon with halogens added) that briefly conducts electricity when a particle or photon of radiation temporarily makes the gas conductive. The tube amplifies this conduction by a cascade effect and outputs a current pulse, which is then often displayed by a needle or lamp and/or audible clicks. Modern instruments can report radioactivity over several orders of magnitude. Some Geiger counters can also be used to detect gamma radiation, though sensitivity can be lower for high energy gamma radiation than with certain other types of detector, due to the fact that the density of the gas in the device is usually low, allowing most high energy gamma photons to pass through undetected (lower energy photons are easier to detect, and are better absorbed by the detector. Examples of this are the X-ray Pancake Geiger Tube). A better device for detecting gamma rays is a sodium iodide scintillation counter. Good alpha and beta scintillation counters also exist, but Geiger detectors are still favored as general purpose alpha/beta/gamma portable contamination and dose rate instruments, due to their low cost and robustness. A variation of the Geiger tube is used to measure neutrons, where the gas used is Boron Trifluoride and a plastic moderator is used to slow the neutrons. This creates a gamma ray inside the detector and thus neutrons can be counted.

Types and applications

The Geiger-Müller tube is one form of a class of radiation detectors called gaseous detectors or simply gas detectors. Although useful, cheap and robust, a counter using a GM tube can only detect the presence and intensity of radiation (particle frequency, as opposed to energy). Gas detectors with the ability to both detect radiation and determine particle energy levels (due to their construction, test gas, and associated electronics) are called proportional counters. Some proportional counters can detect the position and or angle of the incident radiation as well. Other devices detecting radiation include:

ionization chamber, dosimeters, photomultiplier, semiconductor detectors and variants including CCDs, microchannel plates, scintillation counters, solid-state track detectors, cloud chambers, bubble chambers, spark chambers, neutron detectors and microcalorimeters.

The Geiger-Müller counter has applications in the fields of nuclear physics, geophysics (mining) and medical therapy with isotopes and x-rays. Some of the proportional counters have many internal wires and electrodes and are called multi-wire proportional counters or simply MWPCs. Radiation detectors have also been used extensively in nuclear physics, medicine, particle physics, astronomy and in industry.

History

Hans Geiger developed a device (that would later be called the "Geiger counter") in 1908 together with Ernest Rutherford. This counter was only capable of detecting alpha particles. In 1928, Geiger and Walther Müller (a PhD student of Geiger) improved the counter so that it could detect all kinds of ionizing radiation.

The current version of the "Geiger counter" is called the halogen counter. It was invented in 1947 by Sidney H. Liebson (Phys. Rev. 72, 602–608 (1947)). It has superseded the earlier Geiger counter because of its much longer life. The devices also used a lower operating voltage.

See also

• Civil Defense Geiger Counters
• Geiger-Müller tube
• Radioactive decay
• Geiger plateau
• Gaseous ionization detectors
• Ionization chamber

External links

Patents

Electric lamps and discharge devices of the Geiger-Müller type (Class 313/93)

• U.S. Patent 625,823 , K. Zickler, "Telegraphy by means of electric light"
• U.S. Patent 685,958 , N. Tesla, "Method of utilizing radiant energy"
• U.S. Patent 1,589,833 , H. Benhken, "Measuring device for the examination of electromagnetic waves"
• U.S. Patent 1,855,669 , O. Glasser, "Method and apparatus for the measurement of radiation intensity"
• U.S. Patent 1,995,018 , H. J. Spanner, "Gas Filled Tube"
• U.S. Patent 2,081,041 , H. Kott, "Apparatus for measuring radiation"
• U.S. Patent 2,141,655 , H. Kott, "Radiation sensitive device"
• U.S. Patent 2,145,866 , G. Failla, "Electrotechnique"
• U.S. Patent 2,168,464 , S. Yeda, "Roentgenometer"
• U.S. Patent 2,197,453 , G. L. Hassler, "Method of underground exploration"
• U.S. Patent 2,221,374 , P. T. Farnsworth, "X-Ray projection device"
• U.S. Patent 2,257,827 , G. J. Weissenberg, "Electron Discharge Tube"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,071 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,072 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,073 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,074 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,075 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,398,934 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,440,511 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,449,697 , A. Graves, "Ionization chambers, Geiger Müller tubes, and the like"
• U.S. Patent 2,397,661 , D. G. C. Hare, "Radiation detector"
• U.S. Patent 2,521,315 , J. A. Victoreen, "Geiger tube"
• U.S. Patent 2,542,440 , J. A. Victoreen, "Geiger tube"

bg:Гайгеров брояч

da:Geigertæller de:Geigerzählerfr:Compteur Geiger id:Pencacah Geiger is:Geiger-teljari it:Contatore Geiger he:מונה גייגר lt:Geigerio ir Miulerio skaitiklis hu:Geiger–Müller-cső nl:Geigerteller ja:ガイガー＝ミュラー計数管 no:Geigertellersimple:Geiger counter sv:Geigermätarefi:Säteilymittari

WikiDoc Help Menu Quick Start.. Get Started Here! How to Login How to Search Pages How to Start a New Page How to Edit a Page Cheat Sheet Editing basics Learning Basic Formatting How to make Links in WikiDoc & to External Sites How to Make Lists How to Ignoring Formatting Adding References or Footnotes to Articles Tracking Changes You Have Made How to Put an Article Into a Category When Multiple Topics Should Go To The Same Page (MI, Acute MI, AMI) Using Redirection Advanced editing How to Make Tables How to Insert Images and Other Media How to Add Video Help:How to Make Columns Web Colors How To Make Templates How to Move Pages Inserting Dynamic Dates and Times Inserting WikiDoc Statistics Editing the Table of Contents Communicating your edits Let others know what you changed: The importance of Edit Summaries Minor Edits Edit Conflicts Help Videos You Can Watch Getting Started Video

Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .