Experiment 10: Absorption of β
and γ Rays
Nate Saffold
[email protected]
Office Hour: Mondays, 5:30PM-6:30PM @ Pupin 1216
INTRO TO EXPERIMENTAL PHYS-LAB
1493/1494/2699
Introduction
●
Background:
●
Radioactivity and nuclear decay (α, β, γ)
●
The experiment:
● Detecting β rays: the Geiger-Müller counter
● Finding the plateau region (optimal voltage)
● Counting statistics:
● Poisson statistics
● Measurements:
● Estimating background
● Determining β-rays range and energy
● Determining γ-rays absorption coefficient and energy
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 2
Radioactivity
● Radioactivity is a purely quantum
mechanical phenomenon
● Radioactivity = the tendency for nuclei
to spontaneously split apart into
several lower mass pieces
● By 1900's it was known that unstable
particles can emit three types of
particles:
● α-particles: +2 electric charge, ~ 4
proton masses
● β-particles: ±1 electric charge, 1/1800
mass of the proton
● γ-rays: no electric charge, very energetic
Recall that by placing the particles in magnetic fields, one can tell
the sign of charge of particle.
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Why does radioactive decay occur?
● Simplest picture:
● Like a ball rolling down the hill, an
atom will go radioactive decay to
minimize its energy
●
But more complex…
● There are many local minima. A
nucleus might “sit” in a local
minimum for quite some time
before tunneling (due to quantum
effects) to the global minimum of
its energy Un-decayed states
Decayed state
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A new kind of interaction
● How can you stick two protons together if they repel
because of Coulomb force?
● How can a proton and a neutron stick together if only
one of them is electrically charged?
● Why isn't the electron involved in the dynamics of a
nucleus?
● What makes nuclei stick together then?
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A new kind of interaction
● How can you stick two protons together if they repel
because of Coulomb force?
● New force needs to be attractive and stronger than Coulomb
● How can a proton and a neutron stick together if only
one of them is electrically charged?
● New force is independent of electric charge
● Why isn't the electron involved in the dynamics of a
nucleus?
● New force is short range ~ size of the nucleus ~ 10 -15 m
● What makes nuclei stick together then?
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A new kind of interaction
● How can you stick two protons together if they repel
because of Coulomb force?
● New force needs to be attractive
● How can a proton and a neutron stick together if only
one of them is electrically charged?
● New force is independent of electric charge
● Why isn't the electron involved in the dynamics of a
nucleus?
● New force is short range ~ size of the nucleus ~ 10 -15 m
● What makes nuclei stick together then?
● The Strong Nuclear Force
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Minimizing the potential: α decay
●
Inside a nucleus there is a competition between the
repulsive electric force (protons are likely charged) and the
attractive strong force
● For light nuclei the strong interaction dominates, and the
attractive force causes individual protons and neutrons to
bind.
● Nuclear fusion: i.e. 4H He + other stuff
● Fusion occurs at high temperatures and densities, i.e. core of star
● For large nuclei with many protons, electromagnetic
repulsion is large and can overcome the attractive strong
force
● Nuclear fission: nucleus fragments into smaller nuclei
● Alpha decay: nucleus decay and ejects an He nucleus
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Alpha decay (α)
●
Isotopes:
X = element
(e.g. Pu, Au, C, etc..)
A = # neutrons + protons
Z = # of protons (atomic
number)
●
Alpha particle: It is nothing more
than a bare Helium nucleus (2 protons
+ 2 neutrons):
● Example:
● Note that:
● (1) the number of nucleons is always conserved (A=240 before and A=236+4 after)
● (2) charge is always conserved (Z=94 before and Z=92+2 after)
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Minimizing the potential: β decay
●
Special relativity tells us that mass is equivalent to energy:
● Can think of mass as type of potential energy. The nucleus will try
to minimize it
● The masses of the proton and of the neutron are:
● A neutron will minimize its energy by decaying into a
proton, which has lower mass!
●
Is it enough? Are we satisfying all the conservation laws?
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Minimizing the potential: β decay
● What conservation laws are needed to balance this
reactions?
● Charge conservation: Q = 0 on left and Q = +1 on right
● Conclusion: Need a negatively charged particle on right
● Energy conservation:
● Must be a light, charged particle.
● The best candidate to fulfill both requirements is clearly the
electron!
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Minimizing the potential: β decay
● Is this what is observed in nature?
● No! Experiments showed that only two particles in the final
state are not enough to explain the data
● The missing brick was the neutrino / anti-neutrino:
● Today we know that neutrinos are required in β-decays to
conserve the total lepton number (L):
● L = +1 for electrons and neutrinos
● L = -1 for positrons and anti-neutrinos.
● Neutrinos are effectively massless and very weakly interacting.
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Minimizing the potential: β decay
● For any given atomic mass (A), there is an “optimal” ratio of
protons to neutrons:
● About 1n:1p for light elements (e.g. C-12 has 6p, 6n)
● About 3n:2p for heavier elements (e.g. U-238 has 92p, 146n)
● Too many neutrons they will tend to decay into protons until
the optimal ratio is achieved
● Too many protons they will tend to decay into neutron until
the optimal ratio is achieved
● NOTE: this last decay cannot happen in vacuum because the proton is
lighter than the neutron!
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Interaction of β's with matter
● Possible ways for the β’s to lose
energy are:
1. Inside a material of density ρ,
energetic β's are deflected by
ions (Coulomb repulsion)
2. The β kicks one of the electrons
of the material out (ionization)
and hence undergo multiple
scattering
● Because of this, the β’s can
travel through up to a max range.
An empirical formula for it is:
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 14
Minimizing potential: γ decay
● Just like atoms, a nucleus has energy levels
● One ground state, many excited states. It can be found in any of them
● Transitions between nuclear states are precisely analogous to
electronic transitions in atoms, just at much higher energy!
● Atomic transitions in e.g. Hydrogen:
● Distance between levels ~ size of atom ~ 10-9 m
● Energy of emitted photons ~ visible light ~ few eV
● Nuclear transitions:
● Distance between levels ~ size of nucleus ~ 10-15 m
● Energy of photons ~ gamma rays ~ around MeV
● Just like electronic transitions, nuclear transitions are
characterized by sharp spectral lines corresponding to the
emission of photons with well defined wavelengths
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 15
Interaction of γ's with matter
● Interaction of gamma rays with matter is governed by three
processes:
1. Compton scattering (photon-electron collision): Final, less
energetic photon
Incoming photon transfers energy
to electron. No minimum energy
required for photon.
Initial photon
1. Photoelectric effect: photon hits an atom and kicks one of the
electrons out. Minimum energy required (because atomic levels are
quantized)
2. Pair production: The photon converts into a electron-positron pair.
Minimum energy required (at lease two the mass of the electron ~
1.022 MeV). Not of interest for this experiment
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 16
Interaction of γ's with matter
● The is no such a thing as a sharp
range for γ’s
● However, one can describe the
number of photons (dN) absorbed
while traveling a distance dx in
material as:
# of initial γ’s
# of γ’s absorbed Linear absorption coeff.
● The expected number of photons
emerging from a material of
thickness x then decreases
exponentially with x:
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 17
The Experiment
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 18
Detecting β rays: the Geiger-Müller
● Question: how can we detect β-rays?
● As mentioned they are nothing more than electrons emitted by a
nucleus after a nuclear decay
Anode with positive
Geiger-Müller counter high voltage (+HV)
Argon Gas
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 19
Detecting β rays: the Geiger-Müller
● Question: how can we detect β-rays?
● As mentioned they are nothing more than electrons emitted by a
nucleus after a nuclear decay
Anode with positive
Geiger-Müller counter high voltage (+HV)
Argon Gas
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 20
Detecting β rays: the Geiger-Müller
● Question: how can we detect β-rays?
● As mentioned they are nothing more than electrons emitted by a
nucleus after a nuclear decay
Anode with positive
Geiger-Müller counter high voltage (+HV)
Townsend avalanche: Argon Gas
The electron hits the
atoms of Argon and
emits other electrons.
These are collected on
the anode and observed
as a non-zero current
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 21
Experimental setup
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 22
Scaler and high voltage supply
Voltage counter
control
Pre-set
duration
of the
counting
Start, stop and reset
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 23
Geiger counter with sources
●
Attached to the Geiger counter
are two low radiation level
sources
● Green: source of β’s (thallium – Tl)
● Orange: source of γ's (Cesium – Cs)
● When not in use, cover sources
with lead. This will prevent them
from contributing to the
background
Emits γ’s Emits β’s
●
SAFETY NOTE: Please do not
eat/drink during lab. Wash hands
when you're finished.
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 24
Main goals
●
This week experiment can be divided in essentially three
parts:
● Part 1: Preliminary set up
● Determine the optimal working voltage for the Geiger counter
●
Determine the background counting
●
Part 2: Thallium
● Measure the range of the emitted β particles
● Estimate their maximum energy
● Part 3: Cesium
● Measure the linear absorption coefficient for the γ rays
● Compute their energy and compare with expectation
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 25
Part 1: the plateau
● The first thing you need to do is to
look for the value of the voltage (V)
for which the Geiger-Müller is stable.
This is called the plateau
● In this region the counter will be less
affected by random fluctuation of the
voltage generator
● Procedure:
1. Place the source under the tube and start
increasing the voltage in steps of 20 V
2. At each step count for 15 seconds
3. When the counting changes by less than
10% over a range of 100 V you found the
plateau
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 26
Counting statistics: Poisson distribution
● In this experiment you will “count stuff”, i.e. number of β/γ
passing through the counter
● Basic idea for parts 1 and 2:
● Put source and some absorbing material under Geiger tube.
● During some pre-set time interval count the number of particles
emitted by the source
● Plot count rate (counts/time) vs. absorber thickness
● Complication: Radioactive decay is a genuinely random
process. Repeating a trial in the exact same conditions will
result in slightly different counts.
● Question: How do we quantify the random fluctuations of the
counting? What kind of distribution do they follow?
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 27
Counting statistics: Poisson distribution
● When the output of your measure is a count the fluctuations
cannot follow a Gaussian distribution. In fact, for example, a
count can never be a negative number
● It turns out that they follow the so-called Poisson distribution:
● The fluctuations from the mean value
( λ ) are given by:
● This will be the error on each measure!
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 28
Obtaining precise measurements
● We want to be as precise as possible, so keep relative errors
small.
● Clearly to have small relative errors we need to have a high
number of counts
● Examples:
Relative error: (Not too bad)
Relative error: (Excellent)
● Therefore: longer count higher count smaller
relative error
● You will have to find a compromise between small errors and
reasonable counting time
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 29
Measurement of background
● When there are no sources, you will
observe counts anyway! Why?
● Two main sources of background:
● Cosmic ray showers from atmosphere
● Sources nearby
● To estimate the background:
●
Place sources far from the counter and
try to screen them with lead
● Count for a certain amount of time
● Record the background count and its
uncertainty
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 30
Part 2: Thallium
●
Use a unstable isotope of Thallium-204 to generate beta
particles:
●
Place an Aluminum absorber
between Thallium source and
Geiger tube and take counts for a
fixed amount of time (same as
background!)
●
Record the counts (with errors!) as
a function of the number of
Aluminum foils
●
Given the thickness of each foil
record counts vs. total thickness
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 31
Part 2: Thallium
●
Make a semi-log plot of your counts vs. thickness data
●
On the same plot report also the background
●
When the counts are statistically compatible with the
background determine the range of the β particles
●
Recall the equation for the range:
● Given the density of the Aluminum, ρ = 2.702 g cm-3, and
the experimental range find the energy of the β’s
●
Compare with expected E = 0.765 MeV
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 32
Part 3: Cesium
● Place the source of
Cesium-137 on the last shelf of
the Geiger
● Every time add one lead
absorber (as far away as
possible from the source) and
record counts vs. thickness
● The thickness should be
measured with a caliper
● Take a reasonable number of
data
● NOTE: The counts will never go
to zero!
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Part 3: Cesium
● From every count subtract the background
● Make again a semi-log plot and compute the slope of the
best fit line
●
This will be your coefficient of linear absorption, µ
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 34
Part 3: Cesium
●
Figure 10.4 of the lab manual
give the energy vs. µ curve for
γ rays
●
Given the experimental
coefficient of absorption find
the energy of the emitted
photons
● Compare with the accepted
value for photons emitted by
Cs-137, Eγ = 0.662 MeV
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 35
Tips
● How to handle the radioactive sources:
the levels of radiation emitted by these
sources are extremely low, comparable to
those that we experience every day. So do
not be afraid! Just, please, do not eat the
source…
● To make your life simpler it is better if, for a
fixed source, you perform the counting
always over the same time interval
(including background count)
● REMEMBER: Do not wait for the counts of
the Cesium to drop below the background. It
will never happen!
● Re-measure the background often to make
sure it does not fluctuate too much!
PHYS 1493/1494/2699: Exp. 10 – Absorption of β and γ Rays 36
