Lab Report

PHYS-381 - EXPERIMENTS IN
MODERN PHYSICS
Experiment No. 3: Radiation Absorption of Fundamental Particles Experiment

York College City University of New York

Student Mohammed
Course: PHYS-381
Experiments in Modern
Physics Lab

Jahanzeb

Choudary
Email: m.choudary@me.com

Table of Contents

Contents
Radiation Absorption of Beta and Gamma Particles_________________________________1
The Procedure_______________________________________________________________3
Observation and Analysis_______________________________________________________4
Conclusion__________________________________________________________________6
Appendix___________________________________________________________________7

Pg. 1

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Radiation Absorption of Beta and Gamma

Particles
Introduction
In this experiment the absorption of beta (=negative electrons) and gamma (=high energy
photons) radiation by various materials is studied. Measurements are done with a GeigerMuller
tube and scaler.

The Concept
The Geiger-Muller tube (the tube) detects ionizing radiation (Fig. 1). It consists of a wire inside
of a cylinder that contains a gas at low pressure. A high electric voltage (HV) is maintained
between the wire and the metal walls of the tube. When radiation passes into the tube through
a thin window it ionizes some of the gas inside. The liberated electrons are accelerated toward
the collector wire, and in their flight they strike other molecules with sufficient energy to cause
further ionization. Each additional electron also is accelerated and will cause further ionization.
An electron avalanche takes place. On reaching the collector wire there is a sufficient number
of electrons (many millions) that a detectable pulse of current can be sensed electronically.
This is registered on an appropriate display. Because of differences in construction, all GeigerMuller tubes do not operate satisfactorily at the same voltage, and so the operator must
determine the correct voltage value.
If a radioactive sample is placed close to the tube window and the voltage is slowly increased
from zero, the tube will not start counting until the voltage reaches its starting threshold. As the
voltage is increased beyond threshold a rapid increase in the count rate takes place as the
avalanche becomes effective. Somewhat past threshold the counting rate increases only
slightly as the tube voltage is increased. This is the plateau region. The tube should be
operated in this region. If the voltage is further increased another rapid rise of the count rate
takes place. This is a region of continuous discharge and is produced by the electric field itself,
not by the ionizing radiation. Operating the tube in the continuous discharge region will ruin the
tube, and is undesirable anyway since the pulses are not related to the radiation of the source.
To help preserve the life of the tube (yes, they are expensive) the tube should be operated in
the lower 25% of the plateau. This means a tube voltage of around 400 V.

Pg. 2

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Theory
Alpha, Beta and Gamma radiations are all ionising radiations. This means that all three forms
of radiations have enough energy to pull electrons from atoms turning them into ions. The
Geiger-Muller tube makes use of this fact.
A Geiger-Muller tube consists of a sealed metallic tube filled with argon or another noble gas
mixed with a small amount of alcohol vapour or bromine gas. The argon gas is called the
detecting gas whereas the bromine gas or alcohol vapours are referred to as the quenching
gas. The gas mixture inside the tube is at a pressure below atmospheric pressure. A thin metal
wire runs through the centre of the tube. An electric potential of up to 1 kilovolt is maintained
between the metal wire (the anode) and the cylinder (the cathode). In the absence of any
radiation no current flows between the wire and the cylinder.
When a radioactive particle enters the tube it ionises an argon atom. The resulting electron is
accelerated towards the metal wire or anode.
As the electron approaches the metal wire it experiences an increasing electric field strength
which in turn applies a greater accelerating force on the electron. The accelerating force
becomes so strong that on collision with other argon atoms the electron can ionise them. The
electrons from these ionisations can go onto to generate a cascade of further electrons, an
effect called the avalanche effect. The ionization by one particle can result in millions of
electrons striking the metal wire.

Pg. 3

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

The Procedure
The tube is oriented vertically with the window facing down. It is placed on top of a box that has
one open side with six pairs of horizontal slots. Starting from the top, number the slots 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, and 6, with slot 1 nearest the tube and slot 6 the furthest from the tube. A tray that holds
the radioactive source (source) can be placed in any pair of slots. Various absorbers are
placed on top of the source. A coaxial cable from the top of the tube goes to a power supplyscalar (scaler). A scaler is a device that counts pulses.
The scaler unit supplies high voltage (HV) to the tube. The HV is controlled by two knobs
labeled COARSE and FINE. The coarse knob has discrete steps and adjusts the HV from 0 to
1800 V in steps of 200 V. PLEASE DO NOT EXCEED 400 V WITH THE COARSE KNOB. The
fine knob HB 01-2102-02 Absorption Of Radiation (1) Lab 4 2 continuously adjust the HV from
0 to 200 V. The voltage supplied to the tube is the sum of the two settings. The scaler itself can
be set to count pulses for a set period of time (in minutes, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, etc.) or to count
time for a given number of pulses (500, 1 k, 2 k, 5 k, etc.). Note that times less than a minute
are decimal. A toggle switch chooses which mode. The scaler has a six digit decimal readout.
There are a set of 5 push buttons.
Each button lights up when activated. The buttons names and function are:

POWER-Turns power to the scaler on and off. This button toggles.

TEST-Puts the scaler into a test mode in which line voltage is counted (60 Hz) after the

COUNT button is pressed. This is not a check of the tube. This button toggles.
COUNT-Starts the scaler counting ONLY if the STOP and RESET buttons are
activated (lit). The counting stops whenever 1. the STOP button is pressed, or 2. preset

time or pulses is reached.

STOP-Stops the counting if preset time or preset counts does not do so first. This

button lights up when preset time or preset counts is reached.

CLEAR-Sets the scalers register to zero. Be sure to record the counts or time before
clearing the register. Clear the register before beginning a new set of counts.

Pg. 4

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Observation and Analysis

Using the following Beta and gamma Particles disks:

In order to predict the half life of the gamma/beta emitting particles we know that:
We will need the decay constant in the next step, which is to find the half-life of the radioactive
isotope we are studying. Starting from Equation (8) and applying a simple logarithmic identity,
we get:

ln

N
=t
N0

( )

If we are considering the half-life, then N is one-half of No (reduced ratio) and t is t-1/2. Using
the chart below and observation from the counts of particles passing through the papers and
lead. Using logarithmic scale in excel and the trendline drawn on lograthmic scale and finding
the y-intercept will lead to our

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Pg. 5

Radiation Absorption Experiment

3000
2500
2000

Counts

1500
1000
500
0

- 62x + 616.67
f(x) = 202.24x
32.4x
0 f(x) =0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

Thickness (mm)
Beta Counts through Aluminum
Linear (Beta Counts through Aluminum)
Gamma Counts through Lead
Logarithmic (Gamma Counts through Lead)
Linear (Gamma Counts through Lead)
Beta+Gamma Counts through Paper
Logarithmic (Beta+Gamma Counts through Paper)
Linear (Beta+Gamma Counts through Paper)

4.5

Pg. 6

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Conclusion
The setup of the Millikan Experiment uses macroscopic elements to measure a microscopic
quantity. As a logical result, the correct calibration of the used components is essential to get
accurate data. Our setup didnt fulfill this condition in every respect. The capacitor has to be
exactly orthogonal to the direction of the gravity force, which was not possible with the simple
setup we used. Our results show a nearly chaotic distribution instead of discrete charge levels.
Another reason for this lies in the different charge of the oil drops. Some of them where
charged negatively and others positively. Sometimes, we observed collisions of different drops.
Therefore, it cant be ruled out that collisions happened we did not notice. Indications for this
can be found in the first table, where, for example, one drop changed its number of elementary
charges from 4 to 1. Additionally, we observed chaotic movement to the left or right and even
movement both up and down during one measurement. This might be explained by the
influence of other drops, which carried opposite charge and came close to the observed drops.
The observation itself was difficult as well. Sometimes we lost the drop during the
measurement or the large number of other drops led to confusion. Therefore, it is possible that
a drop we considered as one, was another one instead. The error of each data point in the final
calculation of the elementary charge doesnt consider the systematical errors described above.
Therefore, we determined the worst fit from the variance of our values. The result was a
compatible value with an error of about 25%.
Although our measurement failed to clearly show the discrete composition of the electric
charge, the setup could be improved to provide better results. The orientation the capacitor
could be checked with a simple mechanics level and the observation could be improved by
using cameras and a computer supported measurement system. Another important aspect is
the number of observed oil drops. We needed three hours to measure 32 drops. A setup
modified as suggested might be capable to measure 34 times more. Millikan himself for
example was already capable to observe more than 500 different drops.

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation

Pg. 7

Appendix
Temp.
Voltage
Pressur
e
Coeffici
ant of
Viscosit
y of Air

Rise

Milikan Oil Drop Experiment

Data
Oil
886
21C
Density kg/m3
437V Distanc
7.63x10450V
e of Fall 4 m
Plate
76.01
4.71x10Seperati 3
cm - Hg
m
on
Accelerat

1.81x10- ion due

5 Ns/m2 to
gravity

Fall

3.818

8.046

3.665

7.626

3.981

7.048

3.747

6.833

3.663

6.956

3.725

6.69

4.153

6.711

3.8

6.853

3.958

6.227

3.914

5.979

9.81
m/s2

Observation
Mass of Charge of
Radius
Drop
Drop
Drop 1
7.274E- 1.428E9.305E07
15
19
7.482E- 1.554E1.004E07
15
18
7.798E1.76E1.022E07
15
18
7.926E- 1.848E1.094E07
15
18
7.852E- 1.797E1.092E07
15
18
8.014E1.91E07
15 1.12E-18
8.001E- 1.901E1.043E07
15
18
7.914E- 1.839E1.081E07
15
18
8.321E- 2.138E1.154E07
15
18
2.279E1.208E8.5E-07
15
18

Pg. 8

3.8424
0.1574
464

2.128
3.505
3.544
2.853
3.273
3.804
3.54
4.499
3.707
4.08
3.868

3.6673
0.4470
764

2.609
2.489
2.529

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation
Average
7.908E- 1.845E6.8969
07
15
Standard Deviation
0.60120 3.559E- 2.471E48
08
16
Drop 2
9.715E- 3.403E4.627
07
15
1.211E- 6.588E3.025
06
15
1.193E- 6.308E3.111
06
15
1.034E- 4.104E4.103
06
15
1.027E- 4.023E4.156
06
15
9.077E- 2.775E5.272
07
15
1.212E- 6.608E3.019
06
15
1.16E- 5.798E3.285
06
15
9.734E- 3.423E4.61
07
15
1.25E- 7.248E2.844
06
15
1.081E- 4.691E3.765
06
15
Average
1.105E- 5.157E3.719
06
15
Standard Deviation
0.80564 1.166E- 1.547E07
07
15
Drop 3
7.101E- 1.329E8.422
07
15
6.966E- 1.254E8.735
07
15
8.91 6.893E- 1.216E-

1.075E18
7.905E20
2.265E18
2.573E18
2.484E18
2.098E18
1.915E18
1.388E18
2.567E18
2.103E18
1.61E-18
2.579E18
1.941E18
2.126E18

4.24E-19
1.178E18
1.186E18
1.153E-

Pg. 9

2.517
2.565
2.439
2.756
2.436
2.614
2.723

2.5677
0.1093
425

3.375
3.348
3.259
3.485
3.553
3.688
3.58
3.701
3.816
3.663

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation
07
15
7.151E- 1.357E8.31
07
15
7.258E- 1.419E8.079
07
15
6.896E- 1.217E8.902
07
15
7.014E1.28E8.622
07
15
7.029E- 1.289E8.586
07
15
6.757E- 1.145E9.252
07
15
7.028E- 1.288E8.588
07
15
Average
7.009E1.28E8.6406
07
15
Standard Deviation
0.33369 1.426E- 7.802E95
08
17
Drop 4
1.45E- 1.131E2.132
06
14
1.428E- 1.081E2.196
06
14
1.416E- 1.055E2.231
06
14
1.383E9.81E2.338
06
15
1.378E9.72E2.352
06
15
1.36E- 9.326E2.416
06
15
1.392E- 1.001E2.307
06
14
1.365E- 9.434E2.398
06
15
1.421E- 1.064E2.218
06
14
2.464 1.346E- 9.047E-

18
1.224E18
1.235E18
1.187E18
1.108E18
1.223E18
1.09E-18
1.122E18
1.171E18
5.088E20
3.869E18
3.752E18
3.725E18
3.437E18
3.387E18
3.236E18
3.453E18
3.26E-18
3.528E18
3.173E-

Pg. 10

3.554
3.94
4.596
4.685
4.544
4.848
4.697
4.741
4.918

4.4186
0.5034
239

7.702
8.422
7.709
7.628
8.268
8.356
6.954
7.651

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation
06
15
1.332E8.77E2.514
06
15
1.389E- 9.954E2.316
06
15
1.43E- 1.084E2.191
06
14
1.408E- 1.035E2.258
06
14
1.382E- 9.791E2.341
06
15
1.387E- 9.895E2.325
06
15
1.429E- 1.082E2.194
06
14
1.401E1.02E2.28
06
14
1.424E- 1.071E2.208
06
14
Average
1.393E- 1.004E2.3091
06
14
Standard Deviation
0.10963 3.327E- 7.087E11
08
16
Drop 5
5.866E- 7.493E12.079
07
16
5.499E- 6.171E13.636
07
16
5.603E- 6.527E13.167
07
16
5.74E7.02E12.581
07
16
5.486E- 6.128E13.696
07
16
5.768E- 7.123E12.467
07
16
5.776E- 7.152E12.436
07
16
13.959 5.431E- 5.944E-

18
3.14E-18
3.314E18
3.357E18
3.216E18
3.11E-18
3.07E-18
3.328E18
3.166E18
3.255E18
3.213E18
9.799E20
4.035E19
3.389E19
3.706E19
3.9E-19
3.413E19
3.722E19
4.181E19
3.52E-19

Pg. 11

8.101
8.272

7.9063
0.4595
672

Radiation Absorption of Beta and

Gamma ParticlesRadiation
07
16
5.552E- 6.352E13.392
07
16
5.454E- 6.021E13.847
07
16
Average
5.618E- 6.593E13.126
07
16
Standard Deviation
0.68107 1.572E- 5.568E61
08
17

3.534E19
3.376E19
3.678E19
2.834E20