Would this device "Spectrum Techniques Universal Computer Spectrometer UCS30" be able to tell me how many becquerels per kilogram of say sea water or honey? Or is that something that could only be "assumed" be calculation with this device?
Jason,
A spectrometer describes the wavelengths present in a source - in a manner analogous to a prism expanding a source of light into its component colours. And note, the UCS30 is just the pulse amplifier and shaper - it does not include the scintillator head - which is rather critical.
(it would be like buying a camera, but without lenses)
If you want to measure the level of radioactivity in a material, you will need a calibrated Geiger counter, not a spectrometer.
(generally, the resolution refers to the device's ability to discriminate between wavelengths/energies of a photon. So for any combined detector and amplifier there is a lower bound for the difference in energies that it can tell apart - the better the system, the more finely it can discriminate between two energy sources)
Hi, Jason!
The resolution of a gamma spectrometric system can be defined as the ability to provide qualitative information with a high level of detail. That level of detail is related to the possibility of separating very close gamma energy lines . Although the resolution of the detector is critical (the most common figure used to express resolution detector is full width at half maximum (FWHM): this is the width of the gamma ray peak at half of the highest point on the peak distribution), also It requires a proper selection of the multichannel analyzer.
Gamma spectrometers are preferably used when one needs to know the activity of specific radionuclides (eg: Cs-137, K-40, etc). This requires a calibration of the system with the use of standard sources. The need to make calculations to determine activity in a given mass of sample depends on sample treatment process, measurement geometry, etc.
On the other hand, if you just want to know the total gamma activity in the sample, without identifying the radionuclides responsible for this activity, then it is better to use a gamma radiometer (eg: Geiger-Muller detector).
Adelmo.
Gamma ray spectrometers are designed mainly to detect radioactivity i solid material. I do not suggest to use it for measuring in water or other liquid.
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