Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
...can breed another, spreading throughout the entire volume of the gas-multiplication region around the anode wire. This uncontrolled spread of avalanches throughout the entire detector is known as a Geiger discharge.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.