@@parkerlreed Around the two minute mark. I guess one wouldn't smile if the threat was real but that thing put a smirk on my face when it went into "retro game space shift blasting off into the distance" mode
Yeah, you would have to use a lot of DFT to split the frequency domain, then you sample the peaks and compare with a database. Not entirely different from an audio spectrogram analyzer, fun things.
Very cool. From as far back as 1979 I have done gamma ray spectroscopy. As a profession, I have done thousands of gamma specs using HPGe detectors that cost $40k each and I'm impressed with detectable quantity and the quality of the spectra from this little device. Since I'm retired now, I may buy one just for the nostalgia. Thanks for sharing. KD
Since the first nuclear test in 1945 (and especially the first island tests at Bikini atoll), soluble Cs-137 has had time to spread throughout the Earth’s oceans. Therefore, the gourmet “sea salt” promoted as somehow “better” than mined salt should show Cs-137 but mined salt should not. That would be a great demonstration for a future video!
I just got my RadiaCode a couple days ago and I'm already blown away with it. It absolutely trounces my setup with a normal scintillation setup with regards to simplicity. Further still, it also beats almost every other mobile unit I know of with regards to features and price. If you want an example of just how sensitive it is, notice when you were looking at the Potassium Chloride spectrum you didn't just capture the normal gamma peak at 1462 keV. Very, very rarely (according to Wikipedia .001% of decay events), K-40 will decay to Ar-40 by way of emitting a positron. That positron will then collide with an electron and will undergo an annihilation. That produces a Gamma ray (technically two, but they fire off in opposite directions) at 511 keV. If you look at your Potassium Chloride spectrum, when you completely turned the filter off, you could see an obvious peak at 511 keV. It's hard to state just how incredible it is that a ~$250 handheld unit can detect the exceptionally rare 511 keV peak from K-40. I think RadiaScan has a true winner on their hands, and I suspect they may well shake up the market for handheld radiation meters with this.
Congrats on the device! I am not surprised that you are blown away by it. I am too. If I weren't such a grounded guy I would call it revolutionary :) It really shouldn't be this good at this price. Thanks for watching!
Given that the beta+ decay about 10.000 times rare is than the 1461 keV gamma emission you can 100% conclude that you cannot see that on this graph, you might possibly see 511 keV background photons, but I don't see an obvious peak at 511 keV, and the data in that region is so noisy that you probably couldn't conclude anything from it.
@@wvdh It is possible it’s just noise, but if you look at the graph he superimposed on the right side at 9:03, it does appear to be a peak forming around the 511 area. It is possible it’s just noise or even a backscatter peak, but it does stick out. That could also be due to the fact that being a lower energy photon, it would wind up being slightly over represented than that much more powerful 1460 keV photons, due to the overall small size of the scintillation crystal. It’s still a remarkable device, and when I can get my hands on some Potassium Chloride, I’ll see about trying to run my own tests to see how easily that 511 peak shows up.
@@brainiac75 Heh, I absolutely must agree, it does seem to be revolutionary in its field. I’m definitely interested to see how it grows in popularity and features in the future! :)
@@hsoj9550 I too was looking for the positron annihilation line in his video, but didn't catch it due to the high setting on the boxcar averaging filter totally obliterating the single channel peak. Further testament to the fact that this is indeed what we are actually seeing here is the fact that on the same spectrum we can see yet another suspiciously tall isolated line at what appears to be 1022KeV, this would be the positron annihilation "pile-up peak" where two 511KeV gammas happened to hit the scintillator simultaneously. It COULD be noise, but.... yeah, wow. Anyway can you do some videos further exploring this on your channel? I will subscribe if so. I am very interested to see exactly how the sensitivity and FWHM line spectral purity compares with the "Raysid" device of very similar design.
9:21 I'm not ashamed to admit I've spent quite a while doing this myself. The radiacode has one of the best responding screen orientation flipping implementations on earth 😀
Great. I'm very tempted to get one of these to play with, but hate being dependent on an app which will stop being updated and sooner or later (normally sooner) just not be usable.
Re: Tricorder, Look up IR Spec. It might take some extra programming, with with some automated table lookups, you might construct a portable scanner? th-cam.com/video/T_goVwwxKE4/w-d-xo.html
What an enjoyable video! The production value was top notch, to get that out of the way. Then I was transported into a delightful and fascinating look at the RadiaCode and the spectroscopy of a few elements. Thanks so much for your great video!
Wow, just wow. I got fascinated by radioactivity in general (you can't see it) and this video is really well made :) This is an awesome explanation of how radioactive decay works, and a very good demonstration of a very neat device. I am almost tempted to buy one myself and experiment on things. Thank you very much!
Brian, you upload the most fantastically random yet informative and intriguing videos on TH-cam. I’ve been following your channel since probably about 50k subs. 👍🏻 Always amazed by your attention to detail.
Soo, i actually brought it. Just received it today! Thanks, I have been looking for a nice Geiger counter for a long time. And this is just SO much better!
Going to have to look into one of those. I bought one of their Radiascan meters a couple years ago after seeing it here and it’s been a nice little meter.
I do recommend the RadiaCode to anyone with an interest in radioactivity. For me it is like discovering and learning about radioactivity all over again when getting a scintillation counter over a Geiger counter. But it is of course dependent on your interests and needs. If you have the RadiaScan-701 you can detect most radioactive samples already. You just can't measure why they are radioactive.... Thanks for watching as always!
Just ordered one of these after seeing your video 😊amazing value! Already have the Radiascan 701 in my collection and have been using for over a year. Can’t wait to receive this fantastic looking device. Love your videos 👍
4:32 The reason the 26 keV peak is higher than expected can't be explained by Np- 237: As you say yourself, there is only 2% Np-237, but you have to take into account the much longer half life of Np-237 (almost 5000 longer than Am-241) so you would only expect about 2%*14%*(1/5000)=5.6E-5 % 29 keV gamma decays per Am-241 decay. This means that since both the 26 keV and 29 keV end up in the same peak, the 29 keV gamma ray only contributes 0,003%. The reason that your 26 keV peak is higher, is probably because your detector is more sensitive for lower energy gamma rays, and hence relative more 26 keV gamma's are detected compared to the 60keV .
Very nice! This is my sport. I design and build my own scintillations detectors and prototype scintillation materials. I am surprised the Radia Code incorporated such detailed data collection ability.
You taught me some cool stuff, although I can't say honestly I understood it all. However, an interesting personal story...I was taking a physics class in the mid 1970s. We had access to a cumulative Geiger counter. So, I did my own experiment. I graphed some weekly background radiation results from the Geiger counter. I did this over several weeks. Then, I correlated it with some atmospheric nuclear events happening around the world. Sure enough, peaks were detected after the tests. My personal takeaway is that all humans are bombarded with radiation all the time from various sources. How then do our bodies cope with all this? I believe that our cells can, and do, repair themselves on a regular basis and as long as the radiation doesn't exceed a certain percent over time, we do fine. That is why the world realized this and stopped atmospheric testing - it was best for ALL people, even the tyrants and despots are subject to radiation. So there is a shared incentive for everyone to deal rationally with radiation. Only an idiot thinks there is any way to "win" a nuclear war.
Thanks, just purchased one from their website ($28 shipping to USA, no tax). I already have a GQ GMC-600+ pancake detector but this will do so much more.
I’m deciding on either getting that GMC-600+ or this RadiaCode 102, which one is the most bang for the buck? I know they’re both different, but is alpha detection worth it compared to a spectrometer?
@@CrazyAsian1 If I had to choose one I'd definitely get the Radiacode for its quick response to changing radiation sources and great app for logging tracks though the city or checking the spectrum. I've found interesting things when around town with it (e.g. radioactive propane tanks at the home improvement store). It's also discreet and likely more durable. The Geiger counter (GMC-600+) is so slow in comparison, as Geiger counters naturally are due to their far lower CPM for given source under test.
The only element I'm aware of that ONLY emits alpha and nothing else, for its entire decay chain, is Polonium-210. It decays directly into stable lead-206. So that particular one can only be detected by a counter that can detect alpha. Most other alpha emitters have a decay chain, and the daughter products emit things other than alpha, which can be detected.
I love reviews of Geiger counters especially more affordable ones. I currently own the SOEKS Defender, RadAlert 50 and Radex 1503+ and have been drooling over the SE International Ranger with the large sensitive pancake detector but the price of $800 has been putting it on hold.
@LabRat Knatz I had, but not sure if it is just interference or really there is an elevated level of radioactivity, give me no clue because I had carried a pancake geiger with me and it display elevated reading at the same time. Scared me when the alarm goes off when I was doing regular shopping. But anyway, a neat interesting little device, battery life up to 200 hrs.
I was just talking to someone about investing in a Geiger device but, as with all products these days, the variety is discouraging for someone without prior knowledge.. Do you recommend this small interactive device for “general” detection as well?? If so, it seems like a no-brainer… Could it be that easy??
I think RadiaScan's geiger counter is the best on the market currently. It is amazing how sensitive it is to extremely low radiation levels, and it can measure extremely high radiation levels as well. It also reacts surprisingly fast to radiation. These are mainly because of the large surface area of the GM tube. For me it is important that it has a clicker. It has a nice data analysis software. My first geiger counter was a Gamma Scout, I bought it 8 years ago when I was 14. Since then it is always turned on, and it still has around 2 years of battery power. It has built in shields so you can differentiate between different kinds of radiation when checking on point sources. I think the american CDV-700 is also cool if you love cold war era stuff.
Should compare to the Raysid spectrometer first. This company doesn't seem to give much info on their spectral resolution or the crystal dimensions. The Raysid is binned and sold by detector spectral resolution.
I would go for the RadiaCode as the first device and then later buy a Geiger counter with a large sensor for detecting weak alpha and beta sources. But it is all up to you :) Thanks for watching :)
That's so cool, 20 years ago when I studied chemistry there literally was no way to get something like this. Wow. We had a fridge sized machine that did this.
I must admit I was a little sceptical when I heard of the price of the scintillation counter. I thought it would be very insensitive and imprecise, but it performs way above its price class! Thanks for watching!
@@Muonium1 The Polymaster PM1703 series was definitely less then that, but still several $k. But it was (and still is) a calibrated instrument, albeit using a PMT instead of a semiconductor sensor.
gamma is hitting a crystal of thulium doped sodium iodide causing it to scintillate. higher energy gamma -> more scintillation light. more scintillation light -> brighter flash detected by the avalanche photodiode detector coupled to counting electronics.
I may do a video on it, but Muonium is more or less right. The RadiaCode just uses a thallium doped caesium iodide crystal in stead, since CsI(Tl) is more sturdy for portable work. But any scintillation crystal will give off a flash of light when hit by ionizing radiation. The brighter the flash, the more energy the ionizing radiation had. Thanks for watching!
@@brainiac75 Well, it's not only the strength of the crystal, its density also affects. The efficiency of cesium iodide is 2 times higher than that of sodium iodine, and the resolution for cesium is approximately close. This makes the device more compact.
I've performed several of these experiments myself with it. I've wanted to do gamma spectroscopy for a while but everything was insanely expensive. I wanted a Raysid Gamma initially but in the end I decided to go with the RadiaCode 101. My only issue has been with Sr-90 which just seems to produce an across-the-board increase in the spectrum. Wikipedia discusses something called the "pandemonium effect" as a reason for the random distribution with beta decays. Am-241, Th-232, U-238 and Radon gas progeny were all correctly detected. I have Potassium salt but haven't tested it yet. But I did find a Eu-152 spike in one of my Uranium samples. It came from New Mexico and I suspect fission product contamination from atomic tests in the area. That was a neat find!
Yep, it adapts so quickly to changes in radiation intensity, that it is more useful for searching for radioactive sources - like granite - than any Geiger counter.
I am very picky when choosing sponsors. You wouldn't believe how much junk I am offered but never even bother responding to... This scintillation counter was however easy to accept. Incredible bang-for-the-buck value! Thanks for watching.
I bought one just to have on hand in case something ever happened. (Once something happens, you'll have no chance of buying one.) And its really great device. Its connects to the phone app very well, easy to use, and really helps you learn much more about radiation detection and why scintillation is so important. I have only used it to detect Americium in a smoke detector but it did detect it correctly. I built a geiger counter with my son for a science project he had, and a geiger counter can never tell you what this does because a geiger counter tells you nothing about energy levels. That is what this device does differently, plus its very sensitive and has a database to tell you what the isotope is based on energy levels detected (using probability tables).
very cool Video, i did Not expect that these are so powerfull. i whant a Geiger counter for a Long Time (where i live is a side nearby that my be contaminated) but this device beats every Geiger counter in the Market i now of. Thanks for the Video
Nice video :). I think they are using PIN photo diodes directly (darkened of course) as detectors, because there the amplitude of the discharge peak is somewhat proportional to the energy of the gamma quantum. For that price a scintillator based sensor would be bigger and more expensive. Nicely to see all that packaged in a product.
Happy New Year! Regarding the Cs137 peak at 662 keV, there is also a Bi214 peak from natural uranium at 609 keV and I don't think a CsI(Tl) detector has sufficient resolution (only has 5%) to distinguish them without some elaborate shielding and counting for a long period. You need a high-purity germanium-drifted silicon detector cooled by liquid nitrogen to see the full spectrum in detail. Also, don't forget that pure uranium and thorium metals will not have reached equilibrium with their daughter products Bi214 & Pb214 (for uranium 238 series) and Tl208 (for Th232 series) that are in fact responsible for the gamma radiation. That is how Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium - she noticed that the purer the uranium compounds, the less radioactive they were.
Everything falls under simple calculations. Energy resolution allows us to understand the peaks of what energies we will distinguish. 662-609 keV = 53 keV, average energy 635 keV. Therefore, the relative resolution is 53/635 * 100%, which is about 8%. In this version, the device will certainly not give such a good result, but the use of cesium iodides is quite justified. + besides the peak at 609, there are always other lines with it, which will make it possible to distinguish isotopes. Well, if the device is calibrated, and the peaks are single, then this question is even less posed)
@@anon_226 There is another factor - spectral stability. Most laboratory gamma spectrometers require a feedback circuit to keep the spectrum calibrated. Some do this by using a small plastic button with either Cs137 or Ba133 to keep the channels precisely centred on their energy settings. Some for airborne survey work use the natural Cs137 background to do this, in Europe, usually, but it doesn't work in other places where there was no Cs fallout from Chernobyl. The 5% resolution is the "peak width at half-maximum" so there still would be significant overlap between 609 and 662 keV, especially if both are low values.
Really interesting even for regular people (regarding this subject) like me. If they would mix this with a capable portable Geiger (for beta & co.), at a reasonable price, it would be an even greater device.
Hi brainiac I've recently discovered a awesome new crystal that is used in gamma detection and they glow under UV light so as a fellow nerd of lasers radiation and geek stuff you should make a video on scintillation crystals LYSO and GAGG crystals
Oh yes, it will be my go-to radiation detector from now on! The Geiger counters are only for more niche tasks (like detecting very low intensity alpha and beta emitters). Thanks for watching!
So I deleted my previous comment after hearing this device will be available from Amazon Germany soon. This is wonderful news. Update end of March 2022: the company did not keep its promise. Nothing available from Amazon. Update early September 2022: still nothing on Amazon and a hefty price increase for those ordering directly. This company clearly doesn't keep any of its promises.
Brainiac75 Could you please share more information about those fungi? I'm interested in mycology and knowing more about the environments that caused the radioactive readings. I never thought of testing wild foraged fungi for radioactive properties. √ Thanks for you hard work on all of your videos! √
Mushrooms and berries such as blueberries and cranberries accumulate Cs 137. So you can check the fallout map of Chernobyl to determine the contaminated areas.
This is simply amazing, how powerful is this little spectrometer. It seems too good to be truth but it seems it is really truth. We live in 21st century really. Are there some hidden drawbacks?
Vague fuzzy memories of a 1 day practical on gamma spectroscopy back at uni. Using a scintilation detector the peaks were never clean and even a single energy emitter produced a distribution of signals that needed careful analysis. I am guessing that things have moved on in the last 30 years.
The radiacode is so cute! I’m saving up for one but I keep buying vintage scintillators/ dosimeters/ GM counters and X-ray tubes instead. Actually I keep buying everything BUT the radiacode 😆.
I wonder if some (usually ignored) energy level can be extracted from details of GM tube pulses, or if it gets drowned out by the internal chain reaction in the ionized tube?
Amazing. I have old Radon Istruments from an aircraft and i was thinking of getting a gamma scout for Alpha radiation meassurement. But the Gamma scout is really expensive. Do you think i could also meassure the radiation of them with the Radiocode? I think so.
Based on this video I went and ordered one direct from the manufacturer. I know a contaminated area, and been trying to borrow a gamma spectrometer for years to check it.
Regular Geiger counters will detect alpha emitters like Am 241, Th 232 or Ra 226 because most isotopes decay into a stable element via a so called decay chain, which often contain beta and gamma emitters that will be picked up by a regular Geiger counter.
Hands down the best warning blare I have ever heard. Fairly certain the programmers had really fun writing that software lol
Hehe, it really does attract your attention, doesn't it :D Thanks for watching!
Where at? Was it in the video?
@@parkerlreed Around the two minute mark. I guess one wouldn't smile if the threat was real but that thing put a smirk on my face when it went into "retro game space shift blasting off into the distance" mode
Yeah, you would have to use a lot of DFT to split the frequency domain, then you sample the peaks and compare with a database.
Not entirely different from an audio spectrogram analyzer, fun things.
Now I want to hear what it sounds like at higher levels.
Very cool. From as far back as 1979 I have done gamma ray spectroscopy. As a profession, I have done thousands of gamma specs using HPGe detectors that cost $40k each and I'm impressed with detectable quantity and the quality of the spectra from this little device. Since I'm retired now, I may buy one just for the nostalgia. Thanks for sharing. KD
Since the first nuclear test in 1945 (and especially the first island tests at Bikini atoll), soluble Cs-137 has had time to spread throughout the Earth’s oceans. Therefore, the gourmet “sea salt” promoted as somehow “better” than mined salt should show Cs-137 but mined salt should not. That would be a great demonstration for a future video!
I just got my RadiaCode a couple days ago and I'm already blown away with it. It absolutely trounces my setup with a normal scintillation setup with regards to simplicity. Further still, it also beats almost every other mobile unit I know of with regards to features and price.
If you want an example of just how sensitive it is, notice when you were looking at the Potassium Chloride spectrum you didn't just capture the normal gamma peak at 1462 keV. Very, very rarely (according to Wikipedia .001% of decay events), K-40 will decay to Ar-40 by way of emitting a positron. That positron will then collide with an electron and will undergo an annihilation. That produces a Gamma ray (technically two, but they fire off in opposite directions) at 511 keV. If you look at your Potassium Chloride spectrum, when you completely turned the filter off, you could see an obvious peak at 511 keV. It's hard to state just how incredible it is that a ~$250 handheld unit can detect the exceptionally rare 511 keV peak from K-40. I think RadiaScan has a true winner on their hands, and I suspect they may well shake up the market for handheld radiation meters with this.
Congrats on the device! I am not surprised that you are blown away by it. I am too. If I weren't such a grounded guy I would call it revolutionary :) It really shouldn't be this good at this price. Thanks for watching!
Given that the beta+ decay about 10.000 times rare is than the 1461 keV gamma emission you can 100% conclude that you cannot see that on this graph, you might possibly see 511 keV background photons, but I don't see an obvious peak at 511 keV, and the data in that region is so noisy that you probably couldn't conclude anything from it.
@@wvdh It is possible it’s just noise, but if you look at the graph he superimposed on the right side at 9:03, it does appear to be a peak forming around the 511 area. It is possible it’s just noise or even a backscatter peak, but it does stick out. That could also be due to the fact that being a lower energy photon, it would wind up being slightly over represented than that much more powerful 1460 keV photons, due to the overall small size of the scintillation crystal. It’s still a remarkable device, and when I can get my hands on some Potassium Chloride, I’ll see about trying to run my own tests to see how easily that 511 peak shows up.
@@brainiac75 Heh, I absolutely must agree, it does seem to be revolutionary in its field. I’m definitely interested to see how it grows in popularity and features in the future! :)
@@hsoj9550 I too was looking for the positron annihilation line in his video, but didn't catch it due to the high setting on the boxcar averaging filter totally obliterating the single channel peak. Further testament to the fact that this is indeed what we are actually seeing here is the fact that on the same spectrum we can see yet another suspiciously tall isolated line at what appears to be 1022KeV, this would be the positron annihilation "pile-up peak" where two 511KeV gammas happened to hit the scintillator simultaneously. It COULD be noise, but.... yeah, wow. Anyway can you do some videos further exploring this on your channel? I will subscribe if so. I am very interested to see exactly how the sensitivity and FWHM line spectral purity compares with the "Raysid" device of very similar design.
9:21 I'm not ashamed to admit I've spent quite a while doing this myself. The radiacode has one of the best responding screen orientation flipping implementations on earth 😀
Happy New Year! I am currently celebrating New Year's Eve but will read comments later. Thanks for all the support during 2021!
Happy New Year Brian! Thanks for the video.
Thanks for another great video man happy new years
Godt nytår!!!
Happy new year 🎉 Your videos make life better. Thanks
Godt nytår!
I didn't expect that they sell them outside. By the way there are 3rd party python library, that allows to read data via usb and Bluetooth.
Great. I'm very tempted to get one of these to play with, but hate being dependent on an app which will stop being updated and sooner or later (normally sooner) just not be usable.
Outside of what?
@@bbrockert i have absolute no clue of what they're talking about
This is actually really cool. A fictional tricorder might not be ever possible, but for radioactive materials it might as well be real.
Re: Tricorder, Look up IR Spec. It might take some extra programming, with with some automated table lookups, you might construct a portable scanner? th-cam.com/video/T_goVwwxKE4/w-d-xo.html
What an enjoyable video! The production value was top notch, to get that out of the way. Then I was transported into a delightful and fascinating look at the RadiaCode and the spectroscopy of a few elements. Thanks so much for your great video!
Wow, just wow. I got fascinated by radioactivity in general (you can't see it) and this video is really well made :) This is an awesome explanation of how radioactive decay works, and a very good demonstration of a very neat device. I am almost tempted to buy one myself and experiment on things. Thank you very much!
Protactinium is still the coolest name and sounding name for an Element to me, great video, always a pleasure to see a video from you pop up.
Brian, you upload the most fantastically random yet informative and intriguing videos on TH-cam. I’ve been following your channel since probably about 50k subs. 👍🏻 Always amazed by your attention to detail.
Your video caused me to order one of these a couple days ago. Can’t wait for it to arrive. Thanks for making these videos!
Soo, i actually brought it. Just received it today! Thanks, I have been looking for a nice Geiger counter for a long time. And this is just SO much better!
Going to have to look into one of those. I bought one of their Radiascan meters a couple years ago after seeing it here and it’s been a nice little meter.
I do recommend the RadiaCode to anyone with an interest in radioactivity. For me it is like discovering and learning about radioactivity all over again when getting a scintillation counter over a Geiger counter. But it is of course dependent on your interests and needs. If you have the RadiaScan-701 you can detect most radioactive samples already. You just can't measure why they are radioactive.... Thanks for watching as always!
Just ordered one of these after seeing your video 😊amazing value! Already have the Radiascan 701 in my collection and have been using for over a year. Can’t wait to receive this fantastic looking device. Love your videos 👍
4:32 The reason the 26 keV peak is higher than expected can't be explained by Np- 237: As you say yourself, there is only 2% Np-237, but you have to take into account the much longer half life of Np-237 (almost 5000 longer than Am-241) so you would only expect about 2%*14%*(1/5000)=5.6E-5 % 29 keV gamma decays per Am-241 decay. This means that since both the 26 keV and 29 keV end up in the same peak, the 29 keV gamma ray only contributes 0,003%.
The reason that your 26 keV peak is higher, is probably because your detector is more sensitive for lower energy gamma rays, and hence relative more 26 keV gamma's are detected compared to the 60keV .
I just ordered my radiacode recently, and I can’t wait to try it out on my collection of radioactive things. Stay safe and healthy!
Have ordered one now 😎 Greetings from Stockholm Sweden Europe
I'm in Stockholm too and I might get one.
I always watch when you upload! It’s so fascinating!
Thank you very much :) Much more to come!
That is an interesting product and quite affordable too.
Thanks i have been looking for this gieger counter model after i saw it in one of kreosans videos
this device is the coolest thing i have seen for years
i need one
Perfect work, kudos.
Very nice! This is my sport. I design and build my own scintillations detectors and prototype scintillation materials. I am surprised the Radia Code incorporated such detailed data collection ability.
Neat.
We're not far away from 2022 now so early happy new years
You taught me some cool stuff, although I can't say honestly I understood it all. However, an interesting personal story...I was taking a physics class in the mid 1970s. We had access to a cumulative Geiger counter. So, I did my own experiment. I graphed some weekly background radiation results from the Geiger counter. I did this over several weeks. Then, I correlated it with some atmospheric nuclear events happening around the world. Sure enough, peaks were detected after the tests.
My personal takeaway is that all humans are bombarded with radiation all the time from various sources. How then do our bodies cope with all this? I believe that our cells can, and do, repair themselves on a regular basis and as long as the radiation doesn't exceed a certain percent over time, we do fine. That is why the world realized this and stopped atmospheric testing - it was best for ALL people, even the tyrants and despots are subject to radiation. So there is a shared incentive for everyone to deal rationally with radiation. Only an idiot thinks there is any way to "win" a nuclear war.
and add to that germ warfare, another crime against humanity.
Happy new year. Just got my radiacode, and I love it.
Thanks, just purchased one from their website ($28 shipping to USA, no tax). I already have a GQ GMC-600+ pancake detector but this will do so much more.
I’m deciding on either getting that GMC-600+ or this RadiaCode 102, which one is the most bang for the buck? I know they’re both different, but is alpha detection worth it compared to a spectrometer?
@@CrazyAsian1 If I had to choose one I'd definitely get the Radiacode for its quick response to changing radiation sources and great app for logging tracks though the city or checking the spectrum. I've found interesting things when around town with it (e.g. radioactive propane tanks at the home improvement store). It's also discreet and likely more durable.
The Geiger counter (GMC-600+) is so slow in comparison, as Geiger counters naturally are due to their far lower CPM for given source under test.
@@gblargg thanks a lot!
This is sooo interesting! I didnt expect to learn so much from a 10min vid
The only element I'm aware of that ONLY emits alpha and nothing else, for its entire decay chain, is Polonium-210. It decays directly into stable lead-206. So that particular one can only be detected by a counter that can detect alpha. Most other alpha emitters have a decay chain, and the daughter products emit things other than alpha, which can be detected.
Polonium-210 has a gamma line, but the likelihood of such decay is negligible
I love reviews of Geiger counters especially more affordable ones. I currently own the SOEKS Defender, RadAlert 50 and Radex 1503+ and have been drooling over the SE International Ranger with the large sensitive pancake detector but the price of $800 has been putting it on hold.
I love my radiacode. I take it everywhere with me.
@LabRat Knatz I had, but not sure if it is just interference or really there is an elevated level of radioactivity, give me no clue because I had carried a pancake geiger with me and it display elevated reading at the same time. Scared me when the alarm goes off when I was doing regular shopping. But anyway, a neat interesting little device, battery life up to 200 hrs.
I was just talking to someone about investing in a Geiger device but, as with all products these days, the variety is discouraging for someone without prior knowledge.. Do you recommend this small interactive device for “general” detection as well?? If so, it seems like a no-brainer… Could it be that easy??
I think RadiaScan's geiger counter is the best on the market currently. It is amazing how sensitive it is to extremely low radiation levels, and it can measure extremely high radiation levels as well. It also reacts surprisingly fast to radiation. These are mainly because of the large surface area of the GM tube. For me it is important that it has a clicker. It has a nice data analysis software.
My first geiger counter was a Gamma Scout, I bought it 8 years ago when I was 14. Since then it is always turned on, and it still has around 2 years of battery power. It has built in shields so you can differentiate between different kinds of radiation when checking on point sources. I think the american CDV-700 is also cool if you love cold war era stuff.
@@mrmkl9839 I love this reply and appreciate you very much. All advice will be followed. Happy New Year!!!
Should compare to the Raysid spectrometer first. This company doesn't seem to give much info on their spectral resolution or the crystal dimensions. The Raysid is binned and sold by detector spectral resolution.
I would go for the RadiaCode as the first device and then later buy a Geiger counter with a large sensor for detecting weak alpha and beta sources. But it is all up to you :) Thanks for watching :)
@@brainiac75 I love that you take the time to interact with your viewers despite being such a large channel. Thanks
Godt nytår Brainiac 🤓
Happy new years!
Also very interesting video... it's amazing how we can see something so small...invisible to the eye, with a simple tool
That little spectrometer is incredible,
That's so cool, 20 years ago when I studied chemistry there literally was no way to get something like this. Wow. We had a fridge sized machine that did this.
i'm shocked that this device only costs $230. technology has come so far...
Brih
just 15-20 years ago a device like this would be upwards of probably $20,000
I must admit I was a little sceptical when I heard of the price of the scintillation counter. I thought it would be very insensitive and imprecise, but it performs way above its price class! Thanks for watching!
@@Muonium1 The Polymaster PM1703 series was definitely less then that, but still several $k. But it was (and still is) a calibrated instrument, albeit using a PMT instead of a semiconductor sensor.
@@AKAtheA ya but it's just a dosimeter. It can't spectrally analyze the gammas and identify isotopes.
Very cool! Radiascan got a new order, and you got a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing info about this!
I would love to see a video on how the spectrometer actually measures the energy level of the photons.
gamma is hitting a crystal of thulium doped sodium iodide causing it to scintillate. higher energy gamma -> more scintillation light. more scintillation light -> brighter flash detected by the avalanche photodiode detector coupled to counting electronics.
I may do a video on it, but Muonium is more or less right. The RadiaCode just uses a thallium doped caesium iodide crystal in stead, since CsI(Tl) is more sturdy for portable work. But any scintillation crystal will give off a flash of light when hit by ionizing radiation. The brighter the flash, the more energy the ionizing radiation had. Thanks for watching!
@@brainiac75 Will always mix up thullium / thallium till the day I die....
@@brainiac75 Well, it's not only the strength of the crystal, its density also affects. The efficiency of cesium iodide is 2 times higher than that of sodium iodine, and the resolution for cesium is approximately close. This makes the device more compact.
@@brainiac75 Any idea how it deals with pile ups so as to not confuse simultaneous events with a single higher energy photon?
I've performed several of these experiments myself with it. I've wanted to do gamma spectroscopy for a while but everything was insanely expensive. I wanted a Raysid Gamma initially but in the end I decided to go with the RadiaCode 101. My only issue has been with Sr-90 which just seems to produce an across-the-board increase in the spectrum. Wikipedia discusses something called the "pandemonium effect" as a reason for the random distribution with beta decays. Am-241, Th-232, U-238 and Radon gas progeny were all correctly detected. I have Potassium salt but haven't tested it yet. But I did find a Eu-152 spike in one of my Uranium samples. It came from New Mexico and I suspect fission product contamination from atomic tests in the area. That was a neat find!
i allso got it and 3d printed radiacode cups with lids that hold radiacode for measurments, this is a very good device
wow, that is awesome! I love the map view they show on their website.. super cool stuff! i wanna get one and carry it with me everywhere i go :)
Yep, it adapts so quickly to changes in radiation intensity, that it is more useful for searching for radioactive sources - like granite - than any Geiger counter.
You really get the most interesting sponsors.
I am very picky when choosing sponsors. You wouldn't believe how much junk I am offered but never even bother responding to... This scintillation counter was however easy to accept. Incredible bang-for-the-buck value! Thanks for watching.
@@brainiac75 How to order one?
Are they sent from Russia, or/and available elsewhere (EU/DK)
Awesome video.
I bought one just to have on hand in case something ever happened. (Once something happens, you'll have no chance of buying one.) And its really great device. Its connects to the phone app very well, easy to use, and really helps you learn much more about radiation detection and why scintillation is so important. I have only used it to detect Americium in a smoke detector but it did detect it correctly. I built a geiger counter with my son for a science project he had, and a geiger counter can never tell you what this does because a geiger counter tells you nothing about energy levels. That is what this device does differently, plus its very sensitive and has a database to tell you what the isotope is based on energy levels detected (using probability tables).
SO USEFUL!!! thanks a lot for the clear explanation! 😀
very cool Video, i did Not expect that these are so powerfull. i whant a Geiger counter for a Long Time (where i live is a side nearby that my be contaminated) but this device beats every Geiger counter in the Market i now of. Thanks for the Video
A good way to end the year 👍
Happy New Year Everyone 🎆🎉🎆🎉🎆
Nice. I'm in an excited state.
That's gotta be the coolest looking smoke detector i have ever seen! All the ones we have are boring cylinders.
This video will probably give me the push needed to buy the Radiacode. Thank You.
Happy new year! And im just watching this vid. Pretty sure its good, keep it up!
As usual, your videos are always amazing!!!
Happy New Year!
Great video-- I learned a lot here. Thanks and Happy New Year!
Nice video :). I think they are using PIN photo diodes directly (darkened of course) as detectors, because there the amplitude of the discharge peak is somewhat proportional to the energy of the gamma quantum. For that price a scintillator based sensor would be bigger and more expensive. Nicely to see all that packaged in a product.
Hi, there is a full-fledged solid-state PMT 3x3mm
@@Nuclear_Legacy oh wow in that case I'm officially impressed :)
Happy New Year! Regarding the Cs137 peak at 662 keV, there is also a Bi214 peak from natural uranium at 609 keV and I don't think a CsI(Tl) detector has sufficient resolution (only has 5%) to distinguish them without some elaborate shielding and counting for a long period. You need a high-purity germanium-drifted silicon detector cooled by liquid nitrogen to see the full spectrum in detail. Also, don't forget that pure uranium and thorium metals will not have reached equilibrium with their daughter products Bi214 & Pb214 (for uranium 238 series) and Tl208 (for Th232 series) that are in fact responsible for the gamma radiation. That is how Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium - she noticed that the purer the uranium compounds, the less radioactive they were.
Everything falls under simple calculations. Energy resolution allows us to understand the peaks of what energies we will distinguish. 662-609 keV = 53 keV, average energy 635 keV. Therefore, the relative resolution is 53/635 * 100%, which is about 8%. In this version, the device will certainly not give such a good result, but the use of cesium iodides is quite justified. + besides the peak at 609, there are always other lines with it, which will make it possible to distinguish isotopes. Well, if the device is calibrated, and the peaks are single, then this question is even less posed)
@@anon_226 There is another factor - spectral stability. Most laboratory gamma spectrometers require a feedback circuit to keep the spectrum calibrated. Some do this by using a small plastic button with either Cs137 or Ba133 to keep the channels precisely centred on their energy settings. Some for airborne survey work use the natural Cs137 background to do this, in Europe, usually, but it doesn't work in other places where there was no Cs fallout from Chernobyl. The 5% resolution is the "peak width at half-maximum" so there still would be significant overlap between 609 and 662 keV, especially if both are low values.
Yessss so exciting. Been waiting for this for ever.
Nice thanks 🙏
Ordered! As well as an android tablet for it!
2:12 Cool warning sound. I think it's from Alien II.
Super fed video 😮
I like going for rides and hikes with my 102, last one was an old copper mine and found a hot spot
It's a lot cheaper than I thought, looks like a cool item, don't need one but it'd cool to play with one
You also need a lot of knowledge to interpret the results 😂
The meter beeps "SOS" in the beginning of the video. Pretty cool
Really interesting even for regular people (regarding this subject) like me. If they would mix this with a capable portable Geiger (for beta & co.), at a reasonable price, it would be an even greater device.
Hi brainiac I've recently discovered a awesome new crystal that is used in gamma detection and they glow under UV light so as a fellow nerd of lasers radiation and geek stuff you should make a video on scintillation crystals LYSO and GAGG crystals
Looking forward to more videos on this specific topic!!
Just bought a radiascan from this video.
Wow that’s crazy!
handheld technology moving up fast
Great video! Thank you! 😉🤘
Happy New Year! 🎉😁💚☢️
Such a cool device!! A great addition to your collection! :)
Oh yes, it will be my go-to radiation detector from now on! The Geiger counters are only for more niche tasks (like detecting very low intensity alpha and beta emitters). Thanks for watching!
That's fantastic!
I dont have an actual use for one, but I WANT one!
Santa may have to make a second trip. :)
So I deleted my previous comment after hearing this device will be available from Amazon Germany soon.
This is wonderful news.
Update end of March 2022: the company did not keep its promise. Nothing available from Amazon.
Update early September 2022: still nothing on Amazon and a hefty price increase for those ordering directly. This company clearly doesn't keep any of its promises.
Most interesting!
Where did those mushrooms originate from and would the dose of radiation be harmful enough if those mushrooms were eaten regulaly?
Hello I I watched the videos and understand things properly, in elementary school I couldn't listen to the teacher, sometimes I even hear them :)))
So technically those mushrooms are packed with energy then?
Eat radioactive mushrooms. Grow bigger. Smash monsters. How did Miyamoto know?
Take drugs, kill a monster
Very cool gadget
Brainiac75 Could you please share more information about those fungi? I'm interested in mycology and knowing more about the environments that caused the radioactive readings. I never thought of testing wild foraged fungi for radioactive properties.
√ Thanks for you hard work on all of your videos! √
Mushrooms and berries such as blueberries and cranberries accumulate Cs 137. So you can check the fallout map of Chernobyl to determine the contaminated areas.
This is simply amazing, how powerful is this little spectrometer. It seems too good to be truth but it seems it is really truth. We live in 21st century really. Are there some hidden drawbacks?
It is truth) You can ask real users if there any drawbacks it Telegramm community - "Support RadiaCode-101".
Vague fuzzy memories of a 1 day practical on gamma spectroscopy back at uni. Using a scintilation detector the peaks were never clean and even a single energy emitter produced a distribution of signals that needed careful analysis. I am guessing that things have moved on in the last 30 years.
The radiacode is so cute! I’m saving up for one but I keep buying vintage scintillators/ dosimeters/ GM counters and X-ray tubes instead. Actually I keep buying everything BUT the radiacode 😆.
That's amazing! I'm clicking on bell notifications and I can't wait for more 🙂
I got mine!!! ITS AMAZING OMG I LOVE IT!!!!
Great. Thank you.
No no, THANK YOU @@radiacode 💜
4:16 Wow! I wasn't aware of that conversion factor! So the daily intake of a grownup of 8700 kJ energy calculates to 5.4301E+22 keV!!! 🤔
That's a very stylish smoke detector!
I wonder if some (usually ignored) energy level can be extracted from details of GM tube pulses, or if it gets drowned out by the internal chain reaction in the ionized tube?
Amazing. I have old Radon Istruments from an aircraft and i was thinking of getting a gamma scout for Alpha radiation meassurement. But the Gamma scout is really expensive. Do you think i could also meassure the radiation of them with the Radiocode? I think so.
Based on this video I went and ordered one direct from the manufacturer.
I know a contaminated area, and been trying to borrow a gamma spectrometer for years to check it.
Happy new year! In my country it’s already 2022.
That counter do be vibin doe.
Regular Geiger counters will detect alpha emitters like Am 241, Th 232 or Ra 226 because most isotopes decay into a stable element via a so called decay chain, which often contain beta and gamma emitters that will be picked up by a regular Geiger counter.
Amazing video
I haven’t seen one of these yet. Amazing
thank you
Damn, I missed the offer on their website. Amazing perfomance for its price
This device is really cool.