Radioactive Decay Experiment - Coursework Example

COLLEGE RADIOACTIVE DECAY EXPERIMENT INTRODUCTION Aim of the experiment: To acquire a statistical explanation for radioactive decay Objectives of the experiment: 1. To determine the nature of the process of decay 2. To establish findings through probabilistic approach 3. To find out the errors in the analysis of the experiments DEFINITIONS 1. Radioactivity This is a process that occurs when the two forces of attraction and repulsion in an atom lead to instability in the isotopes that surround the nucleus thereby causing a displacement of certain isotopes. 2. Radioactive decay During radioactivity, decay occurs when energy is lost by the nucleus in form of mass as it tries to achieve stability. The most common way of loss of mass is through loss of neutrons. Particles lost have a lot of energy in them upon emission. 3. The randomness of the radioactive decay process Radioactive decay is said to be random. No one can tell when an atom will decay. However, the decay process can be tracked and substantial forecasts and conclusions made. Radioactive decay occurs until the atom becomes stable. This means change of the nucleus continually until stability is achieved. This process is called transmutation. An element keeps changing as the nucleus loses energy and mass. 4. Half-life During transmutation, when an element or atom changes and becomes half its original mass or value, then it has reached its half-life. 5. Why use coins as a model of radioactive decay Coins are metallic. They also are elements that contain mass. They are fit because they have heads and tails. Radioactivity can be determined when the coins land on a different side to mean that they have lost energy and mass. It is a probabilistic method, but it works well to establish the hypothesis involved. 6. Explain the significance of probability in the experiment Probability is used in these experiments determine half-life and the process of decay. It is a game. It uses random actions to prove certain trends. Probability is also used here to track progress of decay of the coins. It eliminates decayed coins against non-decayed. It is what enables us to draw conclusions from the trends we create on the tables and graphs. The evidences that we draw are results that we use to predict and interpret. BACKGROUND OF THE EXPERIMENT Two random experiments were conducted to determine radioactive decay of random coins. The purpose was to come up with a statistical explanation for their radioactivity and to establish the procedure. The coins were tossed and probability was used to determine the process of decay. The coins were tossed and each coin that landed on its head was decayed. Each coin that was on its tails was not decayed. This was the mode of separation for the decay process. LAB 1 EXPERIMENT In the first experiment, 198 similar coins were used. Ten random tosses were made and the count of decayed coins was made after each toss. The decayed coins were then removed and the other coins tossed. This was done repeatedly for ten tosses. The purpose of this experiment was to find out how may tosses would lead to a decay of all the coins and to establish the correctness of the hypothesis below. Hypothesis 1. Approximately 50% of coins should decay in each trial 2. It should take approximately 10 trials to get to 0 coins left Results The table for the first experiment shows that, all 198 coins decay within the first ten tosses. Half of the coins decay in the first toss. More than the remaining half decay in the second and third tosses. In the subsequent tosses, the remaining coins have a percentage of less than half of decay. By the last toss, all the coins are decayed. Discussion According to the table representing this experiment / results, the first hypothesis proves to be substantially true. According to the first hypothesis, the results show that the initial tosses prove it true. The second hypothesis according to the table is also true. It takes 10 exact trials for all the coins to decay. The line graph representing this experiment, shows that there is a gradual but approximately consistent decay of the 198 coins used. The cumulative frequency shows that all the 198 coins decay eventually. LAB 2 EXPERIMENT In this experiment, 16 similar coins were used. The coins were replaced with 16 new coins after every trial. The different sets of coins were tossed 50 times and results were taken to determine the number of coins that decayed on the first throw. More throws were made per set to determine how many throws would lead to two or less coins. Hypothesis 1. Half of the coins should decay most often in more than half the 50 trials 2. It should take 3 throws most often to get to 2, 1 or 0 coins left Results In almost half of all the tosses made of the 50, the coins that decay are exactly 8 or more. The throws taken to remain with two or less coins non-decayed after the first throw seems to fluctuate between 2 and 3 more than 4. Discussion The first hypothesis proves to be almost correct. A percentage of 48 is recorded from the table for the number of throws that lead to half or more of the coins decaying. The second hypothesis is also a little faulty. It is almost 3. An average of 2.97 is recorder in the table to mean that the throws after the first are mostly two or three to create two or less coins non-decayed. GENERAL DISCUSSION It is impossible to use the method used in lab one where similar coins are used. This is because in the experiments, the hypotheses are different. Also, the purpose as shown in both is different. Errors When the coins decay, they create a decay product that may be left in the hands of the tosser thus making subsequent tosses a little faulty. The rate of toss of the coins may also be a factor. The time involved and to what level are they tossed also creates errors. The experiments should be performed in twos to make it better. One collects decayed coins, another tosses only. Time should also be calculated within tosses. This experiment is the best suited for radioactive decay process track. Data Lab 1 Experiment trial number number decayed accumulated number decayed number left 0 0 0 198 1 84 84 114 2 46 130 68 3 35 165 33 4 11 176 22 5 7 183 15 6 8 191 7 7 3 194 4 8 1 195 3 9 2 197 1 10 1 198 0 Data lab 2 Experiment trial number number decayed first throw number of throw to get to get 2 or less 1 7 4 2 9 3 3 10 2 4 11 3 5 8 3 6 9 3 7 7 4 8 6 4 10 12 2 11 8 4 12 9 3 13 11 2 14 10 2 15 9 4 16 8 4 17 6 3 18 6 2 19 5 5 20 10 2 21 9 2 0 22 9 3 0 23 6 4 0 24 7 4 0 25 9 3 3 26 5 3 5 27 4 2 7 28 10 2 5 29 9 2 7 30 11 3 12 31 4 4 7 32 6 3 3 33 9 2 1 34 6 4 0 35 8 3 0 36 10 2 0 37 9 2 38 5 2 39 7 3 40 9 2 41 10 2 42 4 5 43 6 4 44 9 2 45 7 3 46 5 3 47 10 2 48 5 4 49 8 4 50 8 4 385 147 385/800=0.48125 147&50=2.94 Graph Lab 1 Experiment Above is graph lab 2 Experiment Data Lab 2 number decayed first throw frequency 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 3 5 5 6 7 7 5 8 7 9 12 10 7 11 3 12 1 13 0 14 0 15 0 16 0 50 The graph for this data is found below number of throw to get to get 2 or less frequency 2 19 3 15 4 14 5 2 50 Data Lab 2 and Graph below Appendix 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Definitions 1.3 Background of the Experiments 1.4 Lab 1 Experiment 1.5 Lab 2 Experiments 1.6 General Discussion Read More