Radioisotope contamination swab

[Safia Hall]

Summary:

Which materials are best to use for swabs/swipes to check for contamination?

I was wondering if it was possible to use a simple cotton swab (like those you might buy at the pharmacy) and some ethanol to do a wipe test to check for radioactive contaminants? It's to wipe test an object in my home, would that be sufficient?

 

[TeethWhitener]

If you aren't looking for really precise results, it should be fine. You'll definitely want to do a blank/background (what's the radioactivity of a swab w/ethanol by itself). Professionals also usually have some known radioactive standard against which to calibrate their results, but unless you know what you're doing, I wouldn't mess around with stuff like that.