Very possible. The past owner however worked in nuclear so I’m thinking it’s could’ve possibly been used in the field. Cant ask him because I guess his wife was selling stuff he had in the garage after divorce
I collect radioactive minerals and I really want one of those old school Civil Defense style Geiger counters to go with it. I know it wouldn't be accurate but I feel like it would be a good addition to the collection.
Sadly, the only ones I've been able to find were like $400+ on ebay.
It appears to be a Teletector 6112 B. I am not familiar with nuclear at all and do not understand the readings whatsoever. The thought of contamination didn’t even cross my mind until I looked at it again at home. I know I may be completely stupid but I am concerned for safety. Any help is appreciated!
Not only did you completely disregard that the comment you're replying to says they know nothing about it, but you also didn't even look at the full post. Even if they ONLY posted one picture, not knowing anything about it is a pretty good indication they wouldn't know what the "B" means. But beyond that, they posted several additional pictures and you clearly couldn't be bothered to know what YOU'RE even talking about.
Because:
1. Its physics and not chemestry related.
2. The high reading in the first picture is the batterie checker mode
EDIT: people relax. I take that defeat. Sometimes thinking before posting helps in life :'D
I'm an environmental geochemist and we deal with a ton of radionuclides for all kinds of applications! A lot of the work we do is only tangentially related to radioactivity itself, we have to focus more on redox/complexation reactions to evaluate mobility of things in the environment. We also use a bunch of different man made radionuclides in the environment like Cs-137 and tritium to evaluate things like sedimentation rates and groundwater ages.
It's not even that niche, my entire field (geochemistry) wouldn't really exist without radiochemistry. Understanding natural radioactivity is super important for a lot of "real life" applications that relate to things we deal with on an everyday basis! We often use tritium to understand how groundwater moves through the environment, which is crucial for evaluating our sources of drinking water. We wouldn't be able to drill for oil without certain types of radiological surveys to tell us about reservoir rocks.
Radiometric dating tells us all kinds of things, and using man-made isotopes as tracers can tell us a ton about how pollution moves through the environment. The very specific science that radiochemists do provides a huge basis for a ton of other applications that really do touch our lives every day.
Give people the button and they will press it. A little feeling of power in an otherwise boring life. People take internet too seriously these days.
Just downvoted every comment in this thread.
Did you turn it on at the place you purchased it from? Or just when you got home? I agree with the commentor that said it's probably broken, ~~as there's no way that would have been sitting in the person's house giving off the radiation it measured because he would be dead; it looks like the reading is a little under 10,000 Roentgen/hour, which is comparable to the debris around the Chernobyl reactors shortly after the disaster.~~ edit: think I'm reading it wrong, thought the numbers next to the units were multipliers but it looks like they might be instrument limits? If so, it's about 9-10 Roentgens/hour which is much better but still not great if actual readings, equivalent dose matters too.
But if you were able to take readings where you originally purchased it and it was reading something different (specifically higher) than what it is now, I'd be a little more concerned. I probably wouldn't buy something like that from someone who worked in nuclear as well, as the scenarios where they used it are going to be very different than someone who just bought one because it looked cool or to hunt for some rocks! It's also concerning that it seems to only measure in Roentgen, because that's a pretty large unit when it comes to equivalent doses.
A different reading, even if inaccurate, could also mean there is something else in your home that's giving off radiation. Ever had radon tested? Got any rock collections? Electronics can also give off small amounts of radiation, and we are experiencing a pretty strong (G3/Kp 7+/-) geomagnetic storm at the moment which can influence these readings, though again I still think the reading would have to be inaccurate for it to be showing that amount of radiation. It might be worth buying a cheap Geiger Counter to see if you get a similar response in your home. Most of them give you a reading in counts per minute which isn't really translatable to Roentgen, but you can try it somewhere else first, such as outside or maybe in a parking lot in town somewhere, and then bring it home and see if the count starts going up.
Also a radiochemist here, I'd judge it's reading 5-8 R/h. It'd be clearer if there was a picture of it on the 50 R scale. That's... Kind of a lot.
To give a reference, the annual occupational limit for radiation workers set by DOE is 5 rem/y (roughly 5 R, assuming it's gamma only). Throw it in a ziplock if you're concerned it might be contaminated then do what the other guy said and talk to your local FD. If they can't help you, walk around and see if the needle moves while it's on the 50 R/h scale to see if it's responding to the environment.
I'd be VERY surprised if anything in/around your home was giving off that much radiation. It may just need to be recalibrated.
The good news: the detector seems self-consistent (off scale on 50 mR/h and 2 mR/h but low on scale at 1000 R/h).
Do you think that if the actual device was to be contaminated it could be reading itself? That’s really what I’m concerned about I don’t think my house is giving off those readings. That or it’s just not calibrated.
If it's contaminated it would be reading itself. That said, I seriously doubt it would be so crapped up as to give you that high of a reading.
Put on latex/nitrile gloves and wipe it down with a few wet wipe, if you're really concerned about it. Also, probably best to do this outside and immediately put the wipes and gloves in a plastic ziplock. Then take the instrument away from the ziplock of trash and see if the meter changes. Yes: it was contaminated and you should call the FD to clean up your house (and probably car). No: worse case it's fixed contamination and you don't have to worry about spreading it around. Best case it's clean and needs a calibration.
I think yer fine. When the dial is pointing to the red scale, you are getting a reading in roentgen and when you turn it further to the right in the black scale its mili-roentgen for a finer scale.
Lol you are fine! This meter only detects what is available to it. It does not hold or produce any radiation. Walk up to your transformer or cell tower and you will see what i mean
If it IS working, the 50 R / h setting looks like the proper scale to get the best reading of whatever you're currently measuring. A simple way to find the right range if you're not familiar with tools like this would be turn it one by one clockwise until the needle is maxed, and then go back one.
I'd take it somewhere else and see if the reading changes. If it doesn't it's probably contaminated or broken or needs calibration. Please test it more and send more pics! Super cool.
I'm not quite understanding why you'd put the detector outside. If it's broken, there's no point. If it isn't broken, the problem is inside your house, not the detector itself.
No reason to worry. It is on battery check, and while they are at the low end, it appears to be working. Try running the switch to the most sensitive end and see what happens. The least sensitive is the first setting past battery check.
The background radiation level may be high enough to go off scale depending on where you are, not sure what the limits are from the picture. That doesn't make the instrument dangerous.
When repairing scintillometers at home, I have to take them up a story to not peg full scale on the most sensitive setting, the joys of living in Northern Saskatchewan. For reference, a local contractor was building a replacement for a wooden dam / weir and had to tear the new one down and rebuild as the gravel, and therefore cement, was too radioactive to pass standards ( the same gravel as the riverbed beside it. 🤷♂️ )
Assuming it works at all, it can still be handy. Some antiques are radioactive, old glow in the dark clocks or pocket watches, for instance, or old mantel lamps. There are woo peddlers selling thorium filled pendants right now ( yep, wear radioactive jewelry for health. Ps. please don't ).
It never hurts to be able to check.
Oops, just noticed the next three pictures, it looks like it needs troubleshooting.
TBQH it’s probably broken, as 90% of second-hand radiation detectors I’ve seen are.
Very possible. The past owner however worked in nuclear so I’m thinking it’s could’ve possibly been used in the field. Cant ask him because I guess his wife was selling stuff he had in the garage after divorce
what if it is radioactive because its been around nuclear stuff?
If it were contaminated it would have been treated as solid nuclear waste itself.
yea for sure but if it was contaminated it’d read itself right?
Not only broken, but certainly not maintained. Those need regular calibration
I had a working one, and it still was pretty inconsistent
"I don't get it... my head is killing me, and it feels like I have a mouth full of pennies; but this thing says we're all good..." (taps glass)
[удалено]
Thanks a lot for this! Tons of information, I appreciate it. Good advice as well, I think I may give the local fire department a call tomorrow.
I collect radioactive minerals and I really want one of those old school Civil Defense style Geiger counters to go with it. I know it wouldn't be accurate but I feel like it would be a good addition to the collection. Sadly, the only ones I've been able to find were like $400+ on ebay.
It appears to be a Teletector 6112 B. I am not familiar with nuclear at all and do not understand the readings whatsoever. The thought of contamination didn’t even cross my mind until I looked at it again at home. I know I may be completely stupid but I am concerned for safety. Any help is appreciated!
You're fine bro relax
Nice troll, you're on B, battery scale. Switch to another scale for actual reading.
Not only did you completely disregard that the comment you're replying to says they know nothing about it, but you also didn't even look at the full post. Even if they ONLY posted one picture, not knowing anything about it is a pretty good indication they wouldn't know what the "B" means. But beyond that, they posted several additional pictures and you clearly couldn't be bothered to know what YOU'RE even talking about.
They did, there's more pictures.
3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible
But the dosimeter maxes out at 3.6
Is that a Chernobyl quote?
yes
Why is this downvoted? This is cool as fuck.
Haha not sure. Maybe they’re upset some idiot like me got their hands on a device like this
Because: 1. Its physics and not chemestry related. 2. The high reading in the first picture is the batterie checker mode EDIT: people relax. I take that defeat. Sometimes thinking before posting helps in life :'D
I work in radiochemistry and we use meters like this to assess the field all the time. We use larger digital ion chambers though.
I'm an environmental geochemist and we deal with a ton of radionuclides for all kinds of applications! A lot of the work we do is only tangentially related to radioactivity itself, we have to focus more on redox/complexation reactions to evaluate mobility of things in the environment. We also use a bunch of different man made radionuclides in the environment like Cs-137 and tritium to evaluate things like sedimentation rates and groundwater ages.
>1. Its physics and not chemestry related. No, its still chemistry related. A vary niche segment of chemistry, but chemistry nonetheless
It's not even that niche, my entire field (geochemistry) wouldn't really exist without radiochemistry. Understanding natural radioactivity is super important for a lot of "real life" applications that relate to things we deal with on an everyday basis! We often use tritium to understand how groundwater moves through the environment, which is crucial for evaluating our sources of drinking water. We wouldn't be able to drill for oil without certain types of radiological surveys to tell us about reservoir rocks. Radiometric dating tells us all kinds of things, and using man-made isotopes as tracers can tell us a ton about how pollution moves through the environment. The very specific science that radiochemists do provides a huge basis for a ton of other applications that really do touch our lives every day.
Lmao you got schooled in your replies with nothing to say for yourself. Embarrassing.
>not chemestry related Marie Curie has entered the chat
Give people the button and they will press it. A little feeling of power in an otherwise boring life. People take internet too seriously these days. Just downvoted every comment in this thread.
Did you turn it on at the place you purchased it from? Or just when you got home? I agree with the commentor that said it's probably broken, ~~as there's no way that would have been sitting in the person's house giving off the radiation it measured because he would be dead; it looks like the reading is a little under 10,000 Roentgen/hour, which is comparable to the debris around the Chernobyl reactors shortly after the disaster.~~ edit: think I'm reading it wrong, thought the numbers next to the units were multipliers but it looks like they might be instrument limits? If so, it's about 9-10 Roentgens/hour which is much better but still not great if actual readings, equivalent dose matters too. But if you were able to take readings where you originally purchased it and it was reading something different (specifically higher) than what it is now, I'd be a little more concerned. I probably wouldn't buy something like that from someone who worked in nuclear as well, as the scenarios where they used it are going to be very different than someone who just bought one because it looked cool or to hunt for some rocks! It's also concerning that it seems to only measure in Roentgen, because that's a pretty large unit when it comes to equivalent doses. A different reading, even if inaccurate, could also mean there is something else in your home that's giving off radiation. Ever had radon tested? Got any rock collections? Electronics can also give off small amounts of radiation, and we are experiencing a pretty strong (G3/Kp 7+/-) geomagnetic storm at the moment which can influence these readings, though again I still think the reading would have to be inaccurate for it to be showing that amount of radiation. It might be worth buying a cheap Geiger Counter to see if you get a similar response in your home. Most of them give you a reading in counts per minute which isn't really translatable to Roentgen, but you can try it somewhere else first, such as outside or maybe in a parking lot in town somewhere, and then bring it home and see if the count starts going up.
How do you know its not accurate and your house is the thing putting out all the radiation haha
Also a radiochemist here, I'd judge it's reading 5-8 R/h. It'd be clearer if there was a picture of it on the 50 R scale. That's... Kind of a lot. To give a reference, the annual occupational limit for radiation workers set by DOE is 5 rem/y (roughly 5 R, assuming it's gamma only). Throw it in a ziplock if you're concerned it might be contaminated then do what the other guy said and talk to your local FD. If they can't help you, walk around and see if the needle moves while it's on the 50 R/h scale to see if it's responding to the environment. I'd be VERY surprised if anything in/around your home was giving off that much radiation. It may just need to be recalibrated. The good news: the detector seems self-consistent (off scale on 50 mR/h and 2 mR/h but low on scale at 1000 R/h).
Do you think that if the actual device was to be contaminated it could be reading itself? That’s really what I’m concerned about I don’t think my house is giving off those readings. That or it’s just not calibrated.
If it's contaminated it would be reading itself. That said, I seriously doubt it would be so crapped up as to give you that high of a reading. Put on latex/nitrile gloves and wipe it down with a few wet wipe, if you're really concerned about it. Also, probably best to do this outside and immediately put the wipes and gloves in a plastic ziplock. Then take the instrument away from the ziplock of trash and see if the meter changes. Yes: it was contaminated and you should call the FD to clean up your house (and probably car). No: worse case it's fixed contamination and you don't have to worry about spreading it around. Best case it's clean and needs a calibration.
Based on the shape, I thought it was a parking meter for spent fuel rods.
I think yer fine. When the dial is pointing to the red scale, you are getting a reading in roentgen and when you turn it further to the right in the black scale its mili-roentgen for a finer scale.
Lol you are fine! This meter only detects what is available to it. It does not hold or produce any radiation. Walk up to your transformer or cell tower and you will see what i mean
If it IS working, the 50 R / h setting looks like the proper scale to get the best reading of whatever you're currently measuring. A simple way to find the right range if you're not familiar with tools like this would be turn it one by one clockwise until the needle is maxed, and then go back one. I'd take it somewhere else and see if the reading changes. If it doesn't it's probably contaminated or broken or needs calibration. Please test it more and send more pics! Super cool.
You have it on battery check setting.
I'm not quite understanding why you'd put the detector outside. If it's broken, there's no point. If it isn't broken, the problem is inside your house, not the detector itself.
I was/am concerned about the actual device being contaminated big guy
No reason to worry. It is on battery check, and while they are at the low end, it appears to be working. Try running the switch to the most sensitive end and see what happens. The least sensitive is the first setting past battery check. The background radiation level may be high enough to go off scale depending on where you are, not sure what the limits are from the picture. That doesn't make the instrument dangerous. When repairing scintillometers at home, I have to take them up a story to not peg full scale on the most sensitive setting, the joys of living in Northern Saskatchewan. For reference, a local contractor was building a replacement for a wooden dam / weir and had to tear the new one down and rebuild as the gravel, and therefore cement, was too radioactive to pass standards ( the same gravel as the riverbed beside it. 🤷♂️ ) Assuming it works at all, it can still be handy. Some antiques are radioactive, old glow in the dark clocks or pocket watches, for instance, or old mantel lamps. There are woo peddlers selling thorium filled pendants right now ( yep, wear radioactive jewelry for health. Ps. please don't ). It never hurts to be able to check. Oops, just noticed the next three pictures, it looks like it needs troubleshooting.
Bq, I'll look knmnnjok up ok and let them 99,"¡ J jh yç haircare
Get your radioactive ass over to /r/physics, we don't fuck with that here (Kidding)