Student Work

Remediating fluctuations in radioactive decay measurements

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It is shown that experimentally observed non-Poisson fluctuations in the decay rate of 14C are the result of electrical interactions of 13—particles with plastic scintillation material. It is also shown that the thermal properties of plastic scintillation materials have a significant effect on measured activity rate. An electrical model is developed for the scintillation material and its interaction with the radioactive source. Based on this model a solution for eliminating these fluctuations is developed and this solution is shown to be successful experimentally. Finally, a thermal model of the scintillator is developed and is shown to be in agreement with experimental data.

  • This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.
Creator
Publisher
Identifier
  • 01D166M
Advisor
Year
  • 2001
Date created
  • 2001-01-01
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