Re: High Altitude Radiation?

[<L666783@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM>]

yeah, but it was worth it.

Donald P. Mercado, O/47-20, B/101      PROFS Nickname: DMERCADO
Radiation Safety Officer            Email: Don.Mercado@lmco.com
Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space            Tel. (408) 742-0759
Sunnyvale, Ca 94089                         Fax. (408) 742-0611
 Received: from eagle by LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP
;
    Tue, 12 Nov 96 08:21:41 PST
 Received: from postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu by eagle (8.6.11/DEC-Ultrix/4.3)
 	id IAA14620; Tue, 12 Nov 1996 08:18:42 -0800
 Received: from romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu [128.174.74.24]) by
po
 Received: from localhost by romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (NX5.67d/NeXT-2.0)
 	id AA01714; Tue, 12 Nov 96 10:19:08 -0600
 Date: Tue, 12 Nov 96 10:19:08 -0600
 Message-Id: <9611121617.AA10582@beta.tricity.wsu.edu>
 Errors-To: melissa@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 Reply-To: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 Originator: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 Sender: radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 Precedence: bulk
 From: rkathren@tricity.wsu.edu (Ron L. Kathren)
 To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
 Subject: Re: High Altitude Radiation?
 X-Listserver-Version: 6.0 -- UNIX ListServer by Anastasios Kotsikonas
 X-Comment:  Radiation Safety Distribution List

 Just returned from being away for a few days and saw your questions re count
 rate vs. altitude.  What you saw is exactly what would be expected.  Cosmic
 ray intensity (largely scondaries -- ie photons) increases with altitude,
 reaches a peak and then drops off.  Also, the efficiency of the detector
 differs for different energies, which plays a part in what you saw.  Details
 are available in Chapter of "Radioactivity in the Environment", Harwood
 Academic Press, 1984.


 Ron Kathren>
 >Howdy,
 >
 >Our campus amateur radio club recently launched a balloon with an
 >amateur radio package attached.  In addition to the amateur radio
 >gear, there was a Geiger counter and data acquisition system on board.
 >They looked at the data and then came to me with questions.  They
 >basically were looking at counting rate versus altitude.  The numbers
 >they got are (cpm = counts per minute):
 >
 >    ground - 16cpm
 >    60,000ft - 800cpm
 >    90,000ft - 600cpm
 >
 >According to the manufacturers calibration data, 1cpm = 1 microR/hour.
 >
 >Their questions are:
 >
 >1) Why is the counting rate higher at 60,000 than 90,000?
 >
 >2) What kind of radiations are they seeing (x-rays, mesons)?
 >
 >Any thoughts?
 >
 >Thanks,
 >
 >Tracy
 >
 >====================================================================
 >Tracy N. Tipping                                Work: (913) 532-2668
 >Laboratory Safety Officer                       FAX:  (913) 532-6806
 >James R. Macdonald Laboratory                   Home: (913) 539-1378
 >116 Cardwell Hall                               Amateur Radio: N0OEY
 >Kansas State University                         tipping@phys.ksu.edu
 >Manhattan, KS 66506-2604            http://www.phys.ksu.edu/~tipping
 >====================================================================
 >
 >