A sheet of paper makes no difference whatsoever. A sheet of aluminum foil doesn't make much difference but a nickel coin blocks most of this small sample. The Gamma Scout is picking up x-rays which are not stopped by paper (even though alpha particles themselves would be). However, to be fair - a fair fraction of the counts, at least in minerals, is probably due to so-called "daughters" some of which emit gammas.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] In reply to Jones Beene's message: Hi, >which is why even small pitchblende samples make the Geiger counter go wild. Try putting a sheet of paper between the Geiger counter and the pitchblende. I think you will find that it makes a huge difference. Most of the activity detected is due to alphas emitted from the surface. (Got your saw handy? ;)
