标签: radioactive source

A few weeks ago, I bought a Geiger counter kit and built it. Brimming with excitement I powered it up and... nothing happened. Some folks said that they had the same kit and it worked; others said that they had the same kit and it didn't work (and they weren't very happy about it). A lot of folks offered suggestions, but by that time I had shipped my kit off to my friend – electronics expert David Ashton – in Australia. David approached the problem with gusto and abandon, and he just reported that he now has my counter counting furiously. The little scamp (the counter, not David) is now winging its way back to me as I pen these words. As an added bonus, David has kindly documented everything that he did – including a video – in the hopes that it will help others with the same kit. It is published in EE Times. As I say, my Geiger counter is now wending its weary way back to me as we speak. Quite apart from anything else, I can't wait to test the little rascal out with my two radioactive marbles. Now, before you bounce over to read David's Article, I can't help myself from showing you a short video he took. David had the same problem I did (before I received my radioactive marbles), which was that he didn't have a radioactive source. So he took my modified Geiger counter over to a Nuclear Medicine practice in a neighboring town (they do radiotherapy and various diagnostic tests using radioactive substances) and they very kindly let David have access to a radioactive source. Finally, as one last interesting aside, one commenter to my original blog mentioned that the "No-salt Salt" that you can buy (which replaces a lot of the Sodium Chloride with Potassium Chloride) is mildly radioactive. David tried this with my now-working Geiger counter as shown below...   And the result was... well, you can read all about this in David's Article (grin)