Lab 12 Measuring Background Radiation PDF

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Assignment for Fundamental of Physical World...

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Lab 12 video link:

Lab 12 Measuring Background Radiation Worksheet https://youtu.be/Rq7XP3suB_8

Background knowledge: Radioactive materials are present in small quantities in our rocks, soils and even in air and this cause background radiation. If we keep a Geiger counter on for some time, it will keep registering these radiations. The standard unit for measuring radioactivity is the curie (Ci). One radioactive decay per second is called the becquerel which is equivalent to 2.703x10-11 Ci. The background radiation in this lab was measured each minute for 42 minutes and the results are given below. 17, 11, 12, 22, 21, 7, 12, 16,17,15, 15, 8, 15, 9, 17, 12, 13, 23, 16, 15, 16, 20, 11, 14, 16, 17, 12, 10, 8, 18, 7, 24, 11, 14, 21, 17, 8, 9, 16, 18, 13, 11 Divide the count rates into 7 classes as suggested in the table below and count the frequency for each class. 5–7

8 – 10

11 – 13

14 – 16

17 – 19

20 – 22

23- 25

2

6

10

11

7

4

2

Draw a histogram of these frequencies. It is easy to do the histogram on paper and follow these steps to insert in this document. (i) take a good picture (ii) email it to yourself (iii) Open it in your email on your computer and save it as an image (iv) Insert the image into this document as I have done on the right. I used random numbers and not this data.

Background Radiation 12

11 10

10

Frequency

8

7 6

6

4

4 2

2

2 0

(5-7)

(8-10)

(11-13)

(14-16)

(17-19)

(20-22)

(23-25)

0

Class

1.

What do you think is the cause of background radiation? I think that the cause of background radiation is cosmic rays (the sun), rocks and soil (they give off Rodon gas), and living things (such as plants that absorb radioactive materials and pass it up the food chain).

2.

What is a unit for measuring radiation? The unit for measuring radiation is the curie (Ci).

3.

What is the name of the instrument that is used to measure radiation? The name of the instrument that is used to measure radiation is called the Geiger counter.

4.

What is the meaning of ionization? Ionization is the process by which electrically neutral atoms or molecules are converted to electrically charged atoms or molecules (ions).

Grading Rubrics: 1. Constructing the correct frequency table 2. Constructing the histogram 3. Correct unit for measuring radiation 4. Naming the instrument 5. Correct meaning of ionization

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5 points 2 point 1 point 1 points 1 point...