You don't have to fight feral ghouls to be familiar with the clicking sound of a geiger counter, but what exactly makes these radiation detecting devices click? It's called SciShow Tangents. A long metal rod runs through the middle, with a power source charging it. At the most basic level, radiation is how energy travels through space and is transferred between things.
Geiger counters specifically measure ionizing radiation: radiation with enough energy to strip electrons from atoms, leaving behind positively-charged ions. That also makes it powerful enough to damage DNA, which is why ionizing radiation is dangerous for living things … and why we have a vested interest in detecting it. When a radioactive atom decays, it produces ionizing radiation in the form of subatomic particles.
And with a Geiger counter, that's what you're looking to detect. When the ionizing radiation passes through the gas inside the G-M tube, it knocks electrons off the gas atoms inside. The newly-freed electrons are attracted to the positively-charged rod at the center, so they zoom towards it. This cascade of atoms being ionized creates enough charged particles inside the tube to briefly conduct electricity between the rod and the walls.
When the tube is connected to a speaker, that current causes a rapid, jerking movement of the speaker components—which is that crackling or popping noise. While the electrons move toward the middle, the positive gas ions head the other way. When they hit the walls of the tube, they pick up an electron from the metal, returning to their original state and resetting the detector. The same crackling can also happen with any abrupt change in the current running through your speakers—like if you accidentally roll your gaming chair over your audio cables.
Thankfully, though, that type of crackling doesn't mean you need to go find a lead shield. Now, tweaks to the tube design and the gas inside can make different Geiger counters slightly more or less sensitive to different kinds of ionizing radiation.
So this probably goes without saying, but if you hear a Geiger counter crackling, stay away! Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow, brought to you by our patrons on Patreon. Email barrkj gmail. To contact John or Hank, please visit hankandjohn. Last edited: May 9, Reactions: t4zzz. Mar 23, 1, 2, Coil whine? MceraWV Honorable. Jan 29, 28 0 10, 2. Could be a wire slightly caught in your CPU fan. Not enough to stop it from spinning, but enough that the fan keeps smacking the wire several times a second.
It's happened to me before! It can't be coil whine because it sounds completely different from a coil whine. I also checked the wires, there are none close to my cpu cooler.
It sounds like the crackling is coming from inside the CPU cooler or from the motherboard components around it. Nemesia Dignified. Nov 6, 5, 1, 16, If we can't hear it we can't tell. A CPU air cooler doesn't make any sound. The fan does. What is your full system specs? A somewhat wild guess since we know nothing of your rig would be air bubbles trapped in the liquid of an AIO make that kind of sound as they get sucked through the block mounted pump.
It frequently starts up only as the liquid heats or the pump speeds up with processing load, as during gaming. Open the case and when it starts up tap the hoses 'til it ceases. You should always have at least one hose routed above the water block so air pockets accumulate up there. It shouldn't re-occur unless you've lost too much fluid to permeation and it needs replacing.
That wouldn't be the case if you've an air cooler of course. But if an air cooler, a fan with bearings going bad can also make a rattling kind of sound like a geiger counter might. Especially likely if it's sleeve bearing as they go out early and often.
Reactions: drea. Nemesia said:. I stopped my cpu fan while i was hearing the noise, as soon as stopped the fan the sound stopped. Used my fingers. So does this mean i have to change my cpu cooler? Hyper evo You must log in or register to reply here. Graphics Cards 1 Aug 7, Similar threads Question Lines all over the screen, GPU still works, no sound, and apparently no driver?
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