[Guy] is “Living Sustainably” and has created some great projects such as his Solar Hot Water Heating System and Electric Car Mods. His latest project involves a Geiger counter and some unexpected applications of radiation detection systems. Guy built an Internet-connected Geiger Counter so he could monitor the radiation levels near his home in Maine.

“The Geiger-Muller tube is rated to detect alpha, beta and gamma particles.  This means that while it can be used for local testing of radiation, it should also be able to detect astronomical events such as the radiation from solar flares.  So I interfaced it to the web using a spare port on one of my ioBridges so that I could see charts of radiation over a 24 hour and 7 day period.”

The normal “clicks-per-minute” is 9-12 in his location in the United States. But, one day the radiation level jumped to over 20 CPM! The unexpected jump in radiation was due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) which is better known as a solar flare. Sure enough, there was a reported solar flare that coincided perfectly with the data collected by his Geiger counter.

For more information this project, visit Guy’s website where you can check out the live radiation levels in Maine from his Internet-conencted Geiger Counter.