Geiger Counter

A Geiger Counter usually contains a metal tube with a thin metal wire along its middle, with the space in between them sealed off and filled with a suitable gas (such as Argon), and with the wire at about +1000 volts relative to the tube. An ion or electron penetrating the tube (or an electron knocked out of the wall by x-rays or gamma rays) tears electrons off atoms in the gas, and because of the high positive voltage of the central wire, those electrons are then attracted to it. In doing so they gain energy, collide with atoms and release more and more electrons, until the process produces an easily detectable pulse of current.

The instrument was called a "counter" because every particle passing it produced an identical pulse, allowing particles to be counted but not telling anything about their identity or energy, except that they must have sufficient energy to penetrate the walls of the counter.