Читать книгу Patty's Industrial Hygiene, Physical and Biological Agents - Группа авторов - Страница 49

Particle counting instruments are widely used as portable detectors for conducting area surveys and in the laboratory for measuring the activity in an air or water sample. Particle counting instruments are usually very sensitive detectors of radiation; they literally respond to a single ionizing particle. They therefore are widely used in searching for unknown radiation sources, leaks in shielding, and contaminated areas. Generally, they are not designed to measure dose. The radiation detector in a particle counting survey meter may be either a gas, as in the case of a Geiger counter, or a solid crystal in the case of a scintillation counter. In both detector types, passage of an ionizing particle through the detector results in a burst of ionization that is converted into an electrical output signal that actuates a readout device to register a count.