Hello, I'm building a particle accelerator type of contraption, I had purchased a muller tube Geiger Counter because I had a feeling it was producing x-rays.

With the device running, and pmthe counter placed approx 4 Feet away from the suspect source the counter was continually going into "alarm mode" reading counts of 2500-3000 CPM, I have not viewed the exposure counts yet... Obviously concerned, I neutralized and disassembled a Lead Acid Battery and constructed many 1/4" - 1/2" Inch thick sealed Lead Shielding blankets and placed them around the source. However, I am still getting intermittent counts of 500 CPM while running the device. I was under the assumption, after reading many articles that even 1mm of Lead would stop 95% of the radiation. I haven't investigated the requirements for Alpha, Gamma, Beta as I wasn't convinced the device had energy levels capable of producing such waves....

Thoughts?

 

What is the voltage produced by your HV supply?

 

Hello,

Have a look at this wiki page for the working of the tube:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger–Müller_tube

When the voltage is to high, continuous discharge takes place.

Bertus

 

Be sure with a 1 kV no Roentgen rays will not be produced. For that even 10 kV is bit too small, however range 20...30...50 up to 100 kV is really touchy about X-rays. Yet, OVER the 100 kV again RTG is diminishing sharply.
Those lead foil is used let measurer would NOT react to mild X-rays and low energy particles. Thus, You may take it off if calibration accuracy is not much important. However 30 keV RTG You sure will see, the 20 and 10 keV may not cross the G-M sidewall. Thus, it is sure not the best way to sense the X-rays. For that better are large area pin-diodes as sensing element. Whilst the accelerator projects most frequently uses for sensing the simplest Faraday Cup with femtoammeter.

 

RE""reading counts of 2500-3000 CPM""
Oh my.... Normal Natural Background is 11 cpm or 10 micro Roentgens.
Thus You have source with at least 250-300 fold of it what is 2.5-3 mili Roenthens. Sources of such dose are enough to cause death in few hours. Try rapidly find where is hidden the problem. Most of cases around the accelerators, altered X-Ray environment is caused by Broemsstrahlung (Brake radiation). Or because of bad particle beam optics the beam have rather poor divergence, thus You are hitting own body by accelerated ion beam radiation. It`s biological equivalent is roughly 10x of pure radioactivity biological hazard factor.

Re:""wasn't convinced the device had energy levels capable of producing such waves"". If accelerator uses RF cavity resonators, kitchen obstacles akllows elementary gain the GeV to TeV size energy levels and even if it is Linac type accelerator with DC, the 100-300 keV is not the highest limit. Thus, You ought to know what You have designed in it, and judge accordingly.

 

If you are able to produce ionizing radiation with what you are building you shouldn’t be building it.

 

Practically any accelerator is ionizating. Starting from most modest TV kinescope. Have You ever measured RTG before the screen? In school it is my most loved demonstration for students when we go from simple Roentgen to all other nuclear physics in corresponding course. Other one is game - find the "nuclear bomb". Just some small radioactive source must be hiddenly put under banana boxes, mostly I use 3x4 boxes in auditorium. Then pupils must be divided in few groups and using a following strategies to find in which "city streetbloke bomb is hidden". First group always is those used a "largest square method", next is those using intuitive random measurements, last is those using one after one method. Then we can discuss the strategies principles in different wider perspectives, I love the example with lion in the desert and robot what indicates is the lion catched or no. May throw the trap-box all the time in the same place until lion makes deadly mistake. May throw trap in one after previous order until lion sees it and escapes. May throw the trap-box in different random places with hope probably now lion is there etc etc etc strategies, including smallest square method.

 

Hello, I'm building a particle accelerator type of contraption, I had purchased a muller tube Geiger Counter because I had a feeling it was producing x-rays.

"...counts of 2500-3000... CPM" Maybe you need to find a safer hobby. What kind of Geiger counter are you using? They vary a lot in sensitivity.

You still have not told us how high your high voltage is. How high is it?

Until a couple of months ago I had a particle accelerator in my living room. Unfortunately it stopped working and nobody around here these days knows how to repair them, and I don't care to go to the trouble myself.