Geochemists have a wide array of electronic instruments available for the analysis of geologic samples. These sophisticated instruments can determine elemental concentrations, even of trace elements, their oxidation states, and their general position in the structure of crystalline materials. Even small laboratories are equipped to determine elemental concentrations by various methods and obtain crystal structure data by X-ray diffractometry (XRD).
Each of the many instruments uses some sort of counting system. A particular instrument may count discrete events so that the data are easily made digital, or in the case of analog data. they are converted to digital form by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). In either case counters are devices that quantify information about geologic samples.
Typical applications
Counters can detect and measure charged particles, neutrons and/or electromagnetic radiation. Charged particles include alpha particles (α), which consist of two protons and two...
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Ledger, E.B. (1998). Counters . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_68
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_68
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