Radon is pervasive in our environment and the second leading cause of lung cancer
induction after smoking. Therefore, the measurement of radon activity concentrations in homes is
important. The use of charcoal is an easy and cost-efficient method for this purpose, as radon can
bind to charcoal via Van der Waals interaction. Admittedly, there are potential influencing factors
during exposure that can distort the results and need to be investigated. Consequently, charcoal
was exposed in a radon chamber at different parameters. Afterward, the activity of the radon decay
products 214Pb and 214Bi was measured and extrapolated to the initial radon activity in the sample.
After an exposure of 1 h, around 94% of the maximum value was attained and used as a limit for the
subsequent exposure time. Charcoal was exposed at differing humidity ranging from 5 to 94%, but
no influence on radon adsorption could be detected. If the samples were not sealed after exposure,
radon desorbed with an effective half-life of around 31 h. There is also a strong dependence of radon
uptake on the chemical structure of the recipient material, which is interesting for biological materials
or diffusion barriers as this determines accumulation and transport