EXPERIMENT # 18
TOPIC AREA:
Radioactivity
TITLE:
Simulation of radioactive decay.
AIM:
To estimate the half-life of the simulated decay process.
METHOD:
1. Count the total number of coins. Predict how many "court of arms" you expect to when
they are thrown.
2. Throw the coins and count the number of coins which came up
"court of arms"
3. Remove the coins which came up "court of arms". Throw the remaining coins and
again count the coins that come up "court of arms" and remove them.
4. Continue this process for at least six (6) tries.
Obtain and tabulate at least 6 set of values of Number of throws, Number of coins
remaining and Number of coins predicted to remain.
a) Plot a graph of Number of coins remaining y-axis against Number of throws.
b) Obtain at least two estimates of the half-life of the decay process and calculate the
mean.
c) Why in radioactive decay the actual count rate differs from the predicted count rate.