A scintillation counter is used to determine the number of radioactive disintegrations in a radioactive sample. Under certain conditions, light will be produced in response to a radioactive decay process. A scintillation counter is designed to measure this light and therefore the radioactive decay events. A scintillation counter responds best to radioactive disintegrations that produce beta particles but some other types of decay processes can also be measured. Typical radioactive nuclides which are measured include tritium (3H), carbon 14, and potassium 40.