It seems that in theory, a radionuclide which emits beta particles with higher energies would have greater penetration, and that conversely, a radionuclide which emits beta particles with lower energies would be easier to shield. Would a radionuclide which emits beta particles with lower...
My understanding is that most beta radiation can be shielded by 1-2 cm of plastic. However, I have also read that beta radiation energies exist on a spectrum. Does this mean that there exist some beta-emitting radioisotopes which can be shielded by thinner materials? Are there any beta-emitting...
Out of curiosity, what would cause it to be more of an evaporative effect, given that radon daughters are solids and not gas? Would the radon daughters fall off from items with radon contamination or get onto other items in the surrounding environment?
Yeah, it's fascinating to observe since there are several short-lived radioisotopes in the radon decay chain. It's also interesting to see that this experiment with the balloon has been replicated by multiple people, so in theory it seems it would not be too difficult to replicate with a plastic...
That would be consistent with the transiently elevated readings I obtained, and the fact that some radon daughters emit beta radiation could explain why the elevated reading I obtained persisted when a sheet of paper was placed between the Geiger counter and envelope. However, for this...
Interestingly, apparently multiple other people have been able to reproduce elevated radiation readings with balloons by rubbing them, waiting awhile for radon daughters to collect, then testing with a Geiger counter:
I also found a science demonstration with instructions on Harvard's...
While I agree that the likelihood is very low and probably trivial, it also cannot be said to be zero with absolute certainty. Given that I have no idea what was causing the elevated radiation reading, I calculated based on a hypothetical worst-case scenario to establish an upper bound of risk.
That is assuming that if there were radioactive contamination, it would have remained on the envelope. However, it could hypothetically have been possible that contamination in a powder form could have fallen off, potentially be inhaled and not easily excreted by the body, and be of a long-lived...
Not in the 3-4 days before the elevated reading (it had been on the 3rd floor of a multistory building). Before that, it had been in a mailbox outside, which was not found to have any elevated radiation readings.
At the time of the elevated reading, I was not in a basement. However, I don't know what the radon concentration was.
For my own physics understanding, is it the static electric charge itself, or the radon daughters which are attracted to the static charge, which can lead to a false radiation...
As I mentioned, I do not currently have the original Geiger counter since I am no longer working in the university lab. I suspect the static charge hypothesis is likely. However, I wanted to see if anyone else who has a pancake Geiger counter would be able to actually do an experiment to prove...
Thanks for your response. I don't know if you are familiar with the GMC-600+, but it's a pancake Geiger counter (measures alpha, beta, gamma) and costs more than $300. The thing that makes me confused is that aside from the envelope, the GMC-600+ seemed pretty accurate for measuring background...
I understand that static charges could potentially lead to false readings, but I am unclear as to whether such a false reading would still be expected if a sheet of paper were to be placed between the Geiger counter and source of the static charge.
If you have access to a pancake Geiger...
I previously purchased a Geiger counter (GQ Electronics GMC-600+) for a university lab and have been confused about an elevated radiation reading from the envelope the Geiger counter came in. The envelope was a USPS Priority Mail bubble mailer envelope...