EXPT No. 2 RESOLVING TIME OF GM COUNTER.

Aim : To determine the resolving time of the GM counter. Theory : When any radiation is incident on a GM counter, it produces an ionizing event. This primary ionizing event produces an avalanche, resulting into momentary discharge between the anode and cathode of the GM counter. As a result of this the electrons travel towards the anode, and the positive ions towards cathode. As the positive ions are much heavier than the electrons, they take much more time to reach the cathode. During this time the GM counter is inoperative, and the radiation incident during this time interval is not counted. This time interval is called resolving time of the counter. This is the minimum time interval necessary between two successive radiation events to be counted separately by the counter. This resolving time can be determined by the following method. An aluminium mount is prepared as shown in Fig. 1, for keeping two radioactive sources [S1 & S2]. The count rates are taken for each source separately (n1 ,n2) & then taken together (n12). Let be the resolving time & N1, N2, N12 be the actual count rates.

S1

S2

S1

S2

S1

S2

Figure 1: Mount for keeping sources For source S1 : Number of counts recorded is n1 in one second. Therefore for (n1) seconds the instrument is inoperative. i.e. in (1 - n1) seconds we have counted n1 number of counts, Hence the actual count rate, n1 N1 = (1) 1 n1 For source S2 : n2 (2) N2 = 1 n 2 and for both sources kept together : n12 N 12 = (3) 1 n12 Now N 12 = N 1 + N 2 . Substituting expressions for N 1 N 2 N 12 and simplifying neglecting higher order terms of , we get n + n 2 n12 = 1 (4) 2 n1 n 2 Thus resolving time can be calculated by finding the values of n1, n2 and n12 experimentally.

Requisites : 1. GM counting system with GM counter. 2. Radiation sources. 3. Aluminium mount as shown in Fig. 1. Procedure : Connect the counting setup. Adjust the EHT voltage to the operating voltage of the GM counter. By keeping scattering & geometry factors constant, the values of n1, n2, and n12 are determined as follows. 1. Keep the source S1 in the mount as shown in the Fig. 1 and take count rate for 100 seconds duration and find out the mean count rate n1 by repeating four times. 2. Keep the source S2 along with the source S1 as shown (S12) and take the count rate, and find out the mean count rate n12. 3. Remove the source S1 without disturbing the geometry and the source S2 and take count rate and find out the mean count rate n2. 4. After finding out the values of n1,n2 & n12 calculate the resolving time by using the equation number (4). (Note: Mean count rate per second is to be used for calculating the resolving time.) Observation : Details of sources used : Source S1 S2 Activity Radiation Half Life Energy

Source 1 S1 S2 S12 Result : 2

Counts for 100 sec 3 4 Average

Resolving time of the detector = .. sec.