

Turn your camera phone into a Geiger counter - bcl
http://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/turn-your-camera-phone-into-a-geiger-counter/

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shabble
I wonder how plausible it'd be to make a little spinthariscope[1] attachment
to stick over the camera instead. Rather than affecting the CMOS camera
element itself, you generate visible light flashes with a fluorescing capture
material.

[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinthariscope>

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briandoll
If you dig this, you'll want to check out Safecast.

Safecast (<http://blog.safecast.org/>) is "a global sensor network for
collecting and sharing radiation measurements to empower people with data
about their environments." They are working on some really awesome tech and
helping people in Japan.

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ANH
Direct link to Rolf-Dieter Klein's site: <http://www.rdklein.de/>

Says there's an iOS version awaiting approval.

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zerostar07
You think it will be approved? Doesn't this app somehow encourages damaging
your phone?

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Adaptive
So this is the CMOS equivalent of the astronauts whose retinas are bombarded
by cosmic rays? Neat stuff.

~~~
eps
Do elaborate on astronauts and their retinas. I haven't heard this one before.

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Adaptive
Man, I'm no expert here and I'm typing from memory but I'm pretty sure that
astronauts experience retinal sparkles/flashes that are caused by particles
that we're shielded from normally by our lovely planet. The particles hit the
retina and trigger the perception of light. I'm sure that ultimately it's not
a healthy thing.

Keep this in mind when we are all flying off to Mars or, you know, wherever.

~~~
GigabyteCoin
At which point it will probably be touted as a reason for going to Mars.

I can see it now... "Go to mars.. and see the stars!"

~~~
megablast
Thought that was for Jupiter.

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randlet
Very neat. I work at a cancer center and I've noticed a very similar effect on
the CCTV at the operator console of the linear accelerators (the camera is
inside the bunker).

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teamonkey
Note that the speckled image in the post shows the result when exposed to
10Sv/hr. 1Sv makes you sick, 10Sv is virtually guaranteed to be fatal.

~~~
randlet
A minor nit pick: a 10Sv _whole body_ dose is very likely fatal.

Routine cancer treatments are in the 20-80Sv range delivered in fractions of
2Sv.

During stereotactic radiosurgery (e.g. for a brain tumour) a patient can
receive in the neighbourhood of 50Sv in a single fraction.

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spoiledtechie
I am convinced that we actually had the idea first and built the first
prototype for this. Sadly, my companies bureaucracy held up the release of the
application. I even wrote a blog post about it a while back...

[http://spoiledtechie.com/post/2011/09/12/Fucking-Big-
Company...](http://spoiledtechie.com/post/2011/09/12/Fucking-Big-Company-
Rules.aspx)

~~~
ChuckMcM
Yeah, that is one of the problems of working for a large company. If its any
consolation one of the reasons that pushed me into leaving Google was they had
this horrendous "we own any App you write for a phone" clause in their
employment agreement.

It would be interesting to know how your company would react if you quit and
decided to market this product.

~~~
fuzzix
"we own any App you write for a phone"

Does this refer to apps written on company time or using company resources? Or
any application written for a phone from anywhere at any time?

~~~
ChuckMcM
Their interpretation (and I got this directly from HR/Legal) was that any app,
for any kind of 'smartphone', even if it was on your own time on all your own
gear. They claimed that Google was in the business of 'smartphone
applications' and so anything you wrote belonged to them. Even in California.
I asked them if I wrote a kitchen timer application for the iPhone would they
claim ownership, they answered in the affirmative.

And I did consult an attorney on that and his comments were that you could
probably litigate it and win, although you would wouldn't be working there any
more. So if you really wanted to write an app, just quit and write it, so much
simpler legally, and you could keep all the profits rather than run the risk
of losing all the profit and ownership to Google.

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Sharlin
Related - endoscopic probe into the Fukushima Nr.2 reactor shows radiation
artifacts: [http://www.smh.com.au/world/first-glimpse-inside-
fukushima-r...](http://www.smh.com.au/world/first-glimpse-inside-fukushima-
reactor-20120120-1qaap.html)

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antimatter15
Could you stick a smoke detector in a smoke-filled bag with the americium
pulled out to make a geiger counter?

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lisper
If the camera is covered with tape, why can I still see the room in the image?

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Sharlin
I don't think it's covered in that demo. At 10 Sv/h the effects are so
immediately obvious that you don't really need to subtract the actual image.

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tocomment
Can anyone tell me how this is possible? Im vey dubious.

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jensnockert
It uses the camera, which is triggered by the high-energy photons in Gamma
radiation. That is why they need to cover the lens with something that only
lets radiation through, but no light.

~~~
shabble
And presumably why it's pretty poor at discriminating Alpha & Beta, since
they'll be quite easily stopped by the barrier as well (and probably the lens
even if it were exposed)

IIRC actual radiation detectors use very thin mica films to protect the
sensor, so they can admit the lesser penetrating particles.

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zerostar07
I m going to try it on a banana
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose>

