Understanding Ionizing Chambers: Alpha, Beta & Gamma Radiation

[RADboy]

im going to state what i already know about an ionizing chamber. any information i leave out or greater detail to what i already said will be appreciated. thankyou

1. an ionizing chamber is a gas-filled electricmagnetic wave detector used to measure the number of ions within a "medium" (whats a medium? what's the gas for?)
2. it uses two electrodes (one cathode, one anode used to make contact with a non metalic part of a circuit)


other questions.
3. what's the difference alpha beta and gamma radiation and eletricmagnetic radiation? i thought all radiations ionize particles they come into contact with.
4. a proper model of a ionizing chamber would be nice to see

again thankyou

 

[Astronuc]

See the discussion of ionziation (ion) chamber and other detectros here:
http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/faqs/radiationdetection.html

Alpha particles are the nuclei of helium atoms. They normally/naturally come from decay of certain radionuclides of heavy metal elements like radon, radium, polonium, actinium, uranium, plutonium, etc.

Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation of high energy and arise from nuclear reactions or decay. X-rays are usually lower energy arising from atomic electrons in the energy levels closest to the nucleus. Beta rays are just high energy electrons from the nucleus.

This is a reasonable summary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_chamber
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/I/ionization_chamber.html
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/ionchamber/introionizationchamberr.htm

Ionization chambers are relatively simple devices consisting of an anode and cathode, which collect electrons and ions formed when radiation interacts with the gas atoms in the chamber. The electrodes could be parallel plate or coaxial electrodes. Proportional and Geiger counters use higher voltages.

See some examples here
http://www.elimpex.com/companies/victoreen/Catalog/RS2.pdf


Atoms are ionized when a charged particle or photon interacts with the electrons in the atom, either pulling or knocking them out of the atoms.