A Lucas cell is a type of
scintillation counter.
It is used to acquire a gas sample, filter out the radioactive particulates through a special filter and then count the radioactive decay. The inside of the gas chamber is coated with
ZnS ZNS or ZnS may refer to:
* Zinc sulfide or zinc sulphide (ZnS), a chemical compound
* ZNS-TV, a national radio and TV broadcaster operated by the state-owned Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas
** ZNS-1
ZNS-1 (branded as ''Radio Bahamas'') i ...
(
Ag) - a chemical that emits light when struck by
alpha particles
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be prod ...
. A
photomultiplier A photomultiplier is a device that converts incident photons into an electrical signal.
Kinds of photomultiplier include:
* Photomultiplier tube, a vacuum tube converting incident photons into an electric signal. Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs for sh ...
tube at the top of the chamber counts the
photons and sends the count to a data logger.
Radon measurement
A Lucas cell can be used to measure
radon
Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...
gas concentrations.
Radon itself is an
inert gas
An inert gas is a gas that does not readily undergo chemical reactions with other chemical substances and therefore does not readily form chemical compounds. The noble gases often do not react with many substances and were historically referred to ...
. Its danger lies in the fact that it undergoes
radioactive decay. The radon decay products may lodge in the lungs and bombard them with
alpha and
beta particles, thus increasing the risk of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
.
See also
*
Geiger counter
*
Counting efficiency In the measurement of ionising radiation the counting efficiency is the ratio between the number of particles or photons counted with a radiation counter and the number of particles or photons of the same type and energy emitted by the radiation s ...
References
Particle detectors
Ionising radiation detectors
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