Absorptionexperiments-TeachingAdvancedPhysics.docVIP

Episode 511: Absorption experiments This gives students the opportunity to work with radioactive sources. Summary Student experiments: Absorption of radiation + report back. (40 minutes) Demonstration: Absorption of radiation by living matter Student experiment: (optional) Student experiments Groups could work in parallel and report back to a plenary session. Remind them to correct for the background count (taken at least twice – at the start and end of the main experiments and the two results averaged). Range of alpha radiation TAP 511-1: Use a spark counter, Range of beta radiation TAP 511-2: The range of beta particles in aluminium and lead Range of gamma radiation An optical analogue for the absorption of ?s by lead is the absorption of light by successive microscope slides. TAP 511-3: Absorption in a liquid Absorption of ?s is an example of exponential decrease – check the data for a constant ‘half thickness’, thus suggesting the type of physics involved. (Each mm of absorber is reducing the intensity by the same fraction.) TAP 511-4: Absorbing radiations Demonstration: Absorption of radiation by living matter To simulate the absorption of radiation by living matter use slices of different vegetables as absorbers, or a slice of bacon to represent human flesh. TAP 511-5: Absorption in biological materials Student experiments: Optional The first requires a sealed radium-226 source. Because Ra-226 is the parent to a chain of radioactive daughters, granddaughters and so on, you get a mixture of ?s, ?s and ?s emitted. Challenge students to use absorbers to establish that all three radiation types are being emitted. (The maximum energies are: ? = 7.7 MeV, ??? 3.3 MeV, ??? 2.4 MeV). The second is an extension of the ??absorption experiment. You could speculate that some ? particles might be ‘back-scattered’ (like Rutherford’s ? particle scattering that first demonstrated the existence of the nucleus). A quick try shows that some ? particles are indeed back-scattere