How does a geiger counter work?
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Variously designed for different uses, it consists commonly of a gas-filled metal cylinder that acts as one electrode, and a needle or thin taut wire along the axis of the cylinder that acts as the other electrode. Glass caps used to seal the ends of the tube serve as insulators. A voltage applied to the device is so adjusted that it is almost strong enough to cause a current to pass through the gas from one electrode to the other. The gas becomes ionized whenever the counter is brought near radioactive substances, however little the quantity and however faint the emanations. The resulting ionized particles of gas are able to carry the current from one electrode to the other, thus completing a circuit. Once established, the current is amplified by an electronic device so that it can indicate by an audible click the presence of ionized particles. The gas quickly returns to its normal nonionized state, permitting each new particle or ray to register, making counting possible. The instrument can also register ionization by a pointer and scale called a rate meter.
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