The Metal Detector and Its Many Uses

What you think first when one hears of the term metal detector is a geek person combing the beach with a space shuttle-like gadget with a long metal broomstick or the door at all airport entrances. And the thing is, both are in fact true, these are two manifestations of what metal detectors are.

Putting it simply, a detector is a gadget that responds to any metal object that isn't easily seen. In a much technical manner, the simplest form of a metal detector is an oscillator and a coil producing an alternating magnetic field. If you have an oscilloscope, you would have a better view of what alternating current is, which is what oscillator passes on to the coil. If this gadget is passed on to a metal piece, currents are pushed into the metal and thus producing an alternating magnetic field of its own and that's how it is detected. The 1960s saw the advent of the very first metal detectors and they were used to detect minerals and other metal deposits in the mining industry. Other functions of the detector are the following location of land mines, discovery of hidden metallic weapons like guns and knives, archaeological finds, and treasure hunting. The detector was also utilized to detect foreign bodies in food for possible contamination and in detecting steel reinf! orcements in concrete walls and floors. The simplest metal detector consists of very few parts and it is lightweight. For you to keep the entire detector unit steady, one needs the stabilizer and it keeps the unit in tact while you sweep from right to left and vice versa. The control box has all the circuitry of the entire gadget including batteries, coil, and the microprocessor. The shaft has the controls for the whole metal detector gadget and it id oftentimes adjustable. The actual portion of the metal detector that senses the metal is called the search head or the search coil. For that more professional treasure hunter look, one can avail of a jack and headphones to be able to muffle and hear the metal detection. To use would be very simple and it is just like what you see on television. Upon turning the metal detector on, all you need to do is slowly sweep the spot where you need to start detecting metals.