Erica DaCosta

CHM 12
Title: Radioactivity: The effect of distance and absorbers.
Date: 4/20/2014

















Radiation is the ability for an unstable nucleus to cause an expulsion of high
energy subatomic particles or an extremely high-energy photon in the attempt to
lower the energy of an atom, eventually causing it to stabilize. In the experiment
Radioactivity: Effect of Distance and Absorbers, we examined the different types of
radioactivity, and their relation to different types of matter. Some of the properties
we studied were the ability of radiation emissions to penetrate different types of
materials, and the radiation intensity with respect to distance.
Using a Geiger-Mller tube we first measured the background radiation
count. A Geiger-Mller tube is an apparatus that holds an inert gas, and when
radioactive particles pass through the gas, (alpha, beta, or gamma radiation), they
cause the electrons of the gas to ionize. These electrons are summed as pulses in the
Geiger-Mller tube. We needed to measure the background radiation because there
is radiation in the atmosphere all around us from natural causes, like those emitted
from sun and outer space (cosmic rays), and man made causes, like radiation
discharged via nuclear testing. The background radiation was measured in five
different trials for sixty seconds each trial, in order to ascertain an average to
promote accuracy.
After obtaining a value for the background radiation, we proceeded to
measure the effect that different distance had on the radiation counts obtained via
the Geiger-Mller tube. Being careful to keep our stations clear of any radioactive
substances that were not being measured, we placed our radioactive substance on a
meter stick, some distance away from the Geiger-Mller apparatus, and recorded
the counts for sixty seconds. The distances used were 12cm, 10cm, 8cm, 6cm, 5cm,
and 4cm. The radioactive material used was Cobalt 60, which emits beta particles
and gamma particles. We ran five different trials to promote accuracy. After arriving
with average counts for the six distances, we were able to calibrate the results of our
experiment by subtracting background radiation value from the averages to assure
we were measuring radiation from Cobalt-60 and not the background radiation
from the environment. We graphically recorded our results in a plot of radiation
intensity, in counts per min (cpm), with respect to distance (cm), and a plot of
radiation intensity (cpm), with respect to distance in cm
-2
.
We concluded that the closer the radioactive material was to the Geiger-
Mller tube, the higher the count was, with a 4cm distance producing the highest
counts, and a 12cm distance producing the lowest counts. The is an indication of the
albeit small absorptive capacity of air, because the less air and space that was in
between the Geiger-Mller caused the counts of radiation to be greater.
Finally, we measured the degree of penetration of the radioactive particles
emitted from Cobalt 60, and Strontium 90, which emits beta particles. The
Geiger-Mller tube was placed directly above the radioactive material, with
different potentially absorbent materials in between the window of the Geiger-
Mller tube, and the radioactive material. The potentially absorptive materials used
were air, cardboard, Aluminum, and Lead, all equidistant from the radioactive
material and the Geiger-Mller tube window.
We concluded that the air had the least absorptive ability because using air
as the absorptive material produced the highest average counts for both Co60 and
Sr90, meaning that more radioactive emissions penetrated the air to reach the
Geiger-Mller tube. Next was cardboard as the second least absorptive material. The
metals were the most absorptive materials with Lead having the smallest count,
followed by Aluminum.
1. The intensity of the radiation is proportional to r
-2
, which is visible from the
graph entitled Radiation Intensity as a Function of Distance
-2
. As the distance
decreases, the radiation intensity increases. This should yield a negative
slope however the graph has a positive slope because of the adjustments we
made by taking the inverse of the distance.
2. Cobalt 60 emits beta and gamma particles. The particles expelled from the
Cobalt were not well absorbed compared to the absorption of beta particles
from Strontium 90. Based on the chart, we see that in both cases of Co and
Sr, the Lead is clearly the more efficient absorptive material; Lead allowed
only about 30% of the particles to reach the apparatus in comparison to the
count that was obtained when no material was present with the exception of
air, in the case of Co, and 3% in the case of Sr. It is clear that Strontium was a
greater radiation source, with counts triple that of the Cobalt, however
because of Cobalt 60s ability to emit gamma radiation, it has a higher
penetrative ability, illustrated its the relatively large count when compared
with the count of Strontium in the columns of Aluminum and Lead.
3. Beta particles are the result of a neutrons decay into a proton and a high-
energy electron (or positron), which is then emitted from the nucleus.
Gamma particles are high-energy photons, with no mass and no charge. They
are more energetic and more penetrative; the energy of beta and gamma rays
is greatly influenced by their wavelength and frequency. The wavelength (m)
of gamma radiation is less that 10
-11
and its frequency is greater than 3
10
19
, while the wavelength of beta waves is much longer, and the frequency
is less.
4. Blue light is part of the visible spectrum of light. It has a wavelength (m) of
4.50 10
-7
4.95 10
-7
, and a frequency (Hz) of 6.06 10
14
6.68 10
14
.
According to the Planck/Einstein equation, energy is directly proportional to
Plancks constant and the frequency of a photon. Very high energy photons
like those present in gamma radiation have a much higher frequency than the
photons present in blue light, thus gamma radiation has a greater energy.
Gamma radiation can penetrate a lead absorber, but obviously would not be
visible because it is not in the spectrum of visible light. Blue light would not
penetrate a lead absorber mostly because visible light photons do not have
the energy to be able to penetrate, and so blue light would be absorbed or
reflected and cannot be seen on the opposite side of the metal wall.
5. If beta particles were ejected at speeds much smaller than the speed of light,
this would imply a decrease in wavelength and/or frequency, and a decrease
in frequency would figuratively result in a decrease in energy of the particle,
which would make that particle less capable of penetrating various materials,
possibly like the low penetrating ability of the heavy alpha particle.