Bodmin College together with Professor Tom Scott recently took part in a ground-breaking project to map the background radiation around Bodmin
Hub Director Professor Tom Scott visited Bodmin College for an outreach project with students in years 11-13.
Why Cornwall?
The background radiation in Cornwall is slightly higher than the national average. Much of the county is designated as a Radon-affected area, largely because of the igneous granite which contains higher levels of uranium. However there has been research that indicates in areas such as Cornwall the levels of cancer are lower,which is the opposite expectation of areas with higher radiation.
Student Project
Students took it turns with the kit which included a Scintillator (a radiation detector), a GPS sensor, a battery and a raspberry pi control box. Each participant took the kit and walked around Bodmin and gathered the data which was uploaded and sent off to be processed.
The final results of the mapping is shown below.
You can also read the write-up on the Bodmin College Website. Bodmin College provides Secondary and Sixth Form education in Cornwall.