Radiation?

[John Connor]

So I have another question. Are radioactive decay emissions constant or are they completely random? Like the pops you hear from a Geiger counter those sound random. The reason I ask is I have an idea for the perfect random number generator based on a radioactive source.

 

[Colt45]

Heh, you're not the first person to think of that one.

Decay indeed is random, quantum mechanics and whatnot. Half life tells you that in a certain amount of time, half the atoms will have undergone decay. Exactly when an atom will decay, or which one will decay, is not possible to predict though. (which is why the cat is both dead and alive, until you check).

it's the textbook example of randomness, man!

 

[Gibsons]

So when you put that uranium ore close to the Geiger counter count the amount of clicks per minute, that is the total count of ionizing events that occurred in the tube then Put a few sheets of aluminium paper between the Geiger counter and the uranium. Count the number of clicks per minute and now you have your gamma reading.

How can you be sure the readings are strictly gamma?

Beta + aluminum = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung