Which piece of equipment is primarily used to measure the ionization produced by radiation?

The ionization chamber is specifically designed to measure the ionization produced by radiation. It operates by detecting the number of ion pairs created as radiation passes through a gas within the chamber. When radiation interacts with the gas, it ionizes the atoms, resulting in free electrons and positive ions. The ionization chamber collects these charged particles, allowing it to measure the quantity of radiation by providing a readout that corresponds to the amount of ionization.

This method is highly effective in assessing radiation levels because ionization chambers can provide accurate measurements of high radiation doses, making them suitable for various applications in radiation therapy and radiation safety monitoring.

Other devices, such as dosimeters, electrometers, and Geiger counters, serve different purposes or measure radiation in other ways. For instance, while dosimeters quantify radiation exposure over time, they do not directly measure ionization. Electrometers can measure electrical charges but are often used to read out the measurements taken by ionization chambers. Geiger counters are more sensitive to low levels of radiation and detect ionizing particles through gas ionization but are not specifically designed to measure ionization in the same manner as ionization chambers.