Halflife Simulation

Select Isotope:

Previous experimental data on has been collected by Professors Samantha Samarium and Erbie Terbium. At the start of the experiment the activity was . After days the activity was . At this time there was an equipment failure and the experiment could not be completed. Use this information to estimate the halflife of . This halflife estimate will be very useful in answering the questions in the next section.

The answers to the first two questions in this section must result in no more than 30 data points being taken and result in data taken over about two halflives. The answer to the third question will have an effect on averaging out counting errors.

How many days do you want to run this experiment?

How often do you want to take readings?

For how many minutes each day do you want to take a reading? (Max of 10)

   

Data Table
Isotope: All readings were taken for minutes each day.
Time
(days)
Raw activity
(counts)
Background
(counts)
True Activity
(counts/minute)
Log
(true activity)
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Questions? Comments??
Patrick Gormley
Revised on: 05/05/2003 at 13:11:47