2016 ~ Robert Gawron

Nuclear-radiation detection using very simple ionization chamber and a single J-FET transistor

in electronic engineering, radioactivity / with No comments /

Today I will show a very simple ionization chamber that can detect radioactivity. I was able to detect with it ionizing radiation from a smoke detector (Am241 isotope). It's also immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI) due to a good shielding. This...

Nuclear physic applied in smoke detectors

in electronic engineering, radioactivity / with 6 comments /

Not many people know, but in some smoke detectors, radioactive materials play an essential role. Today I will present one of those devices, and my -successful- attempt to reverse engineer it and get the circuit diagram. Those smoke detectors use a small...

Semiconductor Nuclear-Radiation Sensor: Part I

in electronic engineering, radioactivity / with 17 comments /

Currently I'm trying to make a working version of a radioactivity detector that uses semiconductor as a sensor. It's a different approach than Geiger-Muller detectors or ionization chambers, more complicated, but also much more interesting. While Geiger-Muller...

Using Arduino to process data from Geiger–Müller counters

in C and C plus plus, electronic engineering, radioactivity / with 2 comments /

In the previous posts I've described a simple Geiger–Müller counter and various experiments with this device. Today I would like to present Arduino project to communicate with a Geiger-Muller counter, gather data and present it to the user. The device...

How to check how many elements an array has?

in C and C plus plus, programming / with No comments /

In C it's possible to omit typing array size if it's fields are provided immediately, so the compiler can easily calculate the size by itself. This is presented below, note empty [] parenthesis. char* sampleArray[] = { "Hello world!", "How are you?", "You like coffe?" ...

How to check how many elements an enum has?

in C and C plus plus, programming / with No comments /

While C language doesn't offer build in method to check how many elements an enum has, it's still possible to obtain this information by using a simple trick. The idea is to add a dummy element at the very end, since numeric enums values are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..., the numeric value of last element...

Making your own PCB cleaner mixture

in chemistry, electronic engineering / with 1 comment /

Commercial PCB washing solutions are relatively expensive, much cheaper and still powerful one can be prepared at home. It's based on trisodium phosphate, highly alkaline substance able to reduce oxides and react with grass forming soaps. Soaps in chemical...

Home-made mixture for chemical PCB tinning (alcaline bath)

in chemistry, electronic engineering / with 1 comment /

Today I will present a method for PCB tinning that uses alkaline bath. What does alkaline bath mean? It says that the solution that we're using for tinning has this pH, in opposition acid bathes also exists - one of the example I presented in my previous...

PCB tinning using Lichtenberg's alloy

in chemistry, electronic engineering / with No comments /

The Lichtenberg's alloy is an interesting way of home PCB tinning - it's inexpensive and there is no need to polish cooper or use specialized tools and chemicals. The negative side is that the alloy is hard to obtain, fortunately it's not expensive....

Home-made mixture for chemical PCB tinning (acid bath)

in chemistry, electronic engineering / with 2 comments /

While it's possible to buy ready to use tinning formulas, making your own is much less expensive. Various recipes exist for tinning copper, today I will present a simple one that uses ingredients available at online chemical stores. It's one of acid...

9V/1kV DC/DC converter

in electronic engineering, high voltage / with 4 comments /

Currently I'm working on a device to electrocute home insects like cockroaches, progress is small because they are smarter than I thought, but that's a different story. For that project I had to find a source of sufficient high voltage and output power....

Conway's Game of Life - online JavaScript version

in fractal, javascript, mathematic, programming / with 2 comments /

Game of life is an example of a system with very simple rules but unpredictable state in the long term. Each square represents a living space available for a single cell. If there aren't enough cells in the neighborhood, the space is empty, if the cell was present there it dies from loneliness. If...

Fractal way of map generation by using diamond-square algorithm

in fractal, javascript, mathematic, programming / with 4 comments /

Diamond-square algorithm is a simple way to generate maps by using fractal approach. The idea is to generate recursively a point based on the values of its neighbors and an additional fluctuation. The main disadvantage is that landscapes aren't realistic and there exist visible edges created during...

Julia set, Cantor set and Fern fractal implemented in JavScript

in fractal, javascript, mathematic, programming / with 3 comments /

.fractalWindow { background: #e0e0e0; padding: 0; margin: auto; display: block; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; } .drawFractal { font-size: 120%; color: #333; } In the previous post, I presented a simple fractal - bifurcation diagram of the logistic map. Today I...

Bifurcation diagram of the logistic map [online version]

in fractal, javascript, mathematic, programming / with No comments /

One of the reasons why mathematics is so amazing is that even a simple at first glance concepts have interesting behaviors and features. I think that the bifurcation diagram of the logistic map is a great example. The logistic map is given by the equitation: xn+1 = rxn(1 - xn), x0 < 1, r ∈ (0,4] Below...

5V/400V DC/DC converter

in electronic engineering, high voltage / with 2 comments /

A small and cheap 5V/400V DC/DC converter can be useful in many DIY projects, e.g Geiger–Müller counters. I will present here one of such DC/DC converter based on popular MC34063 chip in step-up configuration. One big limitation of this device is...