24/05/18 giovanni 0 0
A Geiger counter simulator
Developed by Margaux Khalil (École Estienne), Julien Bobroff and Frédéric Bouquet (Laboratoire de Physique des solides, Université Paris-Sud and CNRS). More information and other projects on opentp.fr/en
Level : Medium
1 day
Build a device that emulates the behaviour of a Geiger counter exposed to a radioactive source
The physic in action
Radioactivity consists in the emission of particles from substances. In certain cases the emitted particles are electrically charged and can trigger a Geiger counter.
The counter reacts producing a small spark inside it that can be “heard” as a characteristic “click”
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Arduino
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Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04
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relay module
Material
Step 1
Connect the relay module and the ultrasonic sensor to Arduino.
There is plenty of tutorials about how to use an ultrasonic sensor and a relay module.
Step 2
Write a program that measures the distance \( d \) of an object and trigger the relay with a probability proportional to \( \frac{1}{d^2} \).
Step 3
Hide everything inside a tube with two holes for the speaker and the microphone of the ultrasonic sensor.
Measure
Approach an object to the tube pretending it is radioactive. The relay starts clicking and the frequency of clicks increases when the distance decreases. Make it realistic applying a radioactive sign on the object.
Improve it
Substances with short lifetime emits particles with a rate exponentially decreasing with time. Can you modify your software such that you can simulate that?
How do you characterise the substance in the latter case? Which numbers better describe the properties of the process you are observing?
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