POTASSIUM SALT BASED ß-RADIATION SOURCES IN EXPERIMENTAL TRAINING IN EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORIES
ON NUCLEAR PHYSICS
Valerij Belyanin1, Inna Bozhevolina2, Anatoly Yatsenko3, Natalya Kurileva4,
Anastasia Kuznetsova5, Alexander Leuhin6
1Mari State University, RUSSIA skva12 @mail. ru
2Mari State University, RUSSIA innabozh@rambler.ru
3Mari State University, RUSSIA yatayu@inbox.ru
4Mari State University, RUSSIA knlmspi@rambler.ru
5Mari State University, RUSSIA nastja-kljuzheva@rambler.ru
6Mari State University, RUSSIA kaffiz@marsu.ru
Abstract
There is a great interest in finding a safer alternative to a traditional choice of artificially produced radionuclides for students’ training in experimental laboratories on nuclear physics. The synthetic elements have an advantage of a small size and the range of radioactive properties appropriate for the teaching lab settings, however, they are often expensive, have limited lifetime and often present a radioactive hazard, hence requiring special, often very strict, radiologic protection protocols. In this article we find and prove that it is possible to use naturally occurring radioisotope 19K40 as a source of ß- radiation for the purpose of student’s training in experimental laboratory settings. The isotope 19K40 can be found in common and safe potassium salts KCl and K2SO4
The main approach to this problem is experimental studies of ß-radiation absorption in matter which allowed us to confirm that results obtained from experiments with the radioactive sources based on both synthetic isotope and naturally occurring in salt K2SO4 isotope are in qualitative agreement.
In this paper we compare experimental results on ß-radiation penetration with isotopes and as sources in the same experimental set-up using the same solid samples (polyethylene, aluminum and brass). We find that the experimental results qualitatively do not depend on the type of the source used: the absorption curves have the same exponential behavior, the same dependence of electron absorption coefficient on the sample density is observed. The materials of the article can be useful for engineering and technical personnel, as well as for lecturers and instructors of Physics departments of higher education institutions involved in setting up educational laboratory tasks on nuclear physics, and for companies specializing in the production of laboratory equipment.
Keywords: Radioactive sources of ß-radiation, potassium isotope, ß-radiation absorption, teaching laboratory settings, nuclear physics.
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