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Radon Collector and Ionization Chamber
Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, MadelineB, Moderators
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LangleyLauren
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2014 12:21 pm
- Occupation: Student: 10th grade
- Project Question: I am building an ionization chamber and radon collector to test the radon rates at my high school. I was wondering what specifically the ionization chamber measures when connected to the digital multimeter. Is it the pCi/L in air? Thank you.
- Project Due Date: The proposal form that I need this answer for is due 9/15/14
- Project Status: I am conducting my research
Radon Collector and Ionization Chamber
I was wondering what exactly the ionization chamber is measuring? Is it pCi/L or something else? Thank you!
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SciB
- Expert
- Posts: 2071
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:00 am
- Occupation: Retired molecular biologist, university researcher and teacher
- Project Question: I wish to join Scibuddies to be able to help students achieve the best science project possible and to understand the science behind it.
- Project Due Date: n/a
- Project Status: Not applicable
Re: Radon Collector and Ionization Chamber
Hi,
Radon is a radioactive gas and when it decays it releases an alpha particle and I'm assuming that is what you are counting with your ionization chamber. If you simply count events you get decompositions per unit time, usually per minute (dpm). One picocurie is equivalent to 2.2 dpm. The difficulty to my mind is how to measure how many liters of air are passing through the detector per minute. Have you worked this out for your instrument? If so, then you can count the decays over a certain time interval and divide that number by the number of liters sampled times 2.2 and this should give you pCi/L.
I don't know if I've answered your question, so please post again if you still need help.
Sybee
Radon is a radioactive gas and when it decays it releases an alpha particle and I'm assuming that is what you are counting with your ionization chamber. If you simply count events you get decompositions per unit time, usually per minute (dpm). One picocurie is equivalent to 2.2 dpm. The difficulty to my mind is how to measure how many liters of air are passing through the detector per minute. Have you worked this out for your instrument? If so, then you can count the decays over a certain time interval and divide that number by the number of liters sampled times 2.2 and this should give you pCi/L.
I don't know if I've answered your question, so please post again if you still need help.
Sybee