Inverse Square App

Radiation shielding is used to reduce the harmful effects of radiation. Effectively shielding Humans from radiation allows us to exploit radioactivity as a resource. Sometimes, shielding might not be enough. Maybe it’s too heavy, or takes up too much space, or the level of radioactivity is too high. In these situations we rely on distance. It is always ideal to stay as far away from radioactivity as possible in order to maximise safety, a process which makes use of the inverse-square law.

How to use this application:

• Select a distance with the up/down arrows.
• Click 'Start Measurement' to measure counts in the detector for 10 seconds at that distance.
• Plot your point on the graph by clicking on the chart. You can use the "Cursor position" indicator at the top left of the chart to help with this.
• Repeat the measurement at different distances to get a good idea of the trend.
• Change to a log scale then alter the sliders to change the line of best fit until you think it best matches your points.