RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

Radioactivity Build-up In Silver

Revised 12/9/2015 02:48:00

Sam Vallentine 430211968

The University of Sydney, School of Physics, Senior Physics
New South Wales, 2006, Australia
e-mail address: sval1475@uni.sydney.edu.au

Abstract: This paper is a report on an experiment conducted to study the radioactive

behaviour of silver metal after exposure to neutron bombardment. Different activity
lifetimes were identified for the two isotopes of silver and the activity lifetimes were
analysed in relation to exposure time, whereby a saturation point was identified for the
silver sample.
Keywords: silver irradiation, neutron absorption, radioactive lifetimes, activity saturation time

I. INTRODUCTION
Nuclear decay is the process of the nucleus of
an atom breaking down into a different kind of
atom (by emission of various types of particles)
and it occurs because the nucleus is unstable.
This occurs naturally but can also be brought
about by adding things to a previously stable
nucleus. Atoms with identical proton counts but
varying neutron counts in their nuclei are called
isotopes of that element. The nuclear decay of
one atom usually produces nuclear radiation that
will readily interact with surrounding atoms, so
there are often various chains of decay incidences
associated with specific samples, especially those
with a mix of different elements.

The main measuring instrument used in this

experiment was a Geiger-Mller (GM) counter,
which detects - and -particles well, but not
gamma or neutrons. This is due to the design and
function of a GM counter. A small, metal
chamber filled with gas with a thin window that
transmits nuclear radiation (but keeps in the gas)
contains an anode wire whose complementary
cathode is the chamber wall itself. This system,
when the radiation ionises the gas, passes a
current out to a wire that can be easily measured
for analysis. However, there is a short period after
detection during which the ionised gas is
collected and no further radiation can be detected.
This is called dead time and will be discussed in
the Procedure section, where it is calibrated for.

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

The silver samples used in this experiment were
irradiated with neutrons from an americiumberyllium source of neutrons. The neutrons from
this source have 5.75 MeV of energy, which is in
fact too much (i.e. too fast) for interaction with
silver nuclei so they must be slowed down to
similar, thermal energies (0.3 eV). This is
achieved through several inelastic collisions with
hydrogen-rich hydrocarbons (paraffin wax, in this
case). Hydrogen nuclei are light enough to recoil
significantly after a neutron impact, which
imparts much of the neutrons kinetic energy onto
the hydrogen atom, slowing the scattered neutron
down to a speed at which it can enter a silver
nucleus.
II. THEORY
Silver (Ag) has two naturally occurring, stable
107
47

Ag

109
47

Ag
isotopes,
and
, with respective
abundances of 52% and 48%1 any given sample
of the metal. Bombardment with neutrons begins
nuclear decay processes for each nuclide, both of
which are similar and involve gamma- and betaemissions. The equations are as follows.
11Equation Section 122Equation Section 2323\*
MERGEFORMAT
(.)

n 107
Ag 108
Ag 108
Cd e1.65MeV
e
47
47
48

424\*

MERGEFORMAT

(.)

n 109
Ag 110
Ag 110
Cd e2.89MeV
e
47
47
48

The -decay timescale is in the order of

picoseconds - effectively instantaneous when
compared to the lifetime of the activated silver so said lifetime is calculated from the moment

neutron exposure ceases. The irradiated Ag-108

nuclide has a half-life, t1/2, of 142.9s and the Ag110 has that of 24.56s. The half-life of a
radioactively decaying substance is the time it
takes for half of the original mass to remain undecayed. Another measuring stick for such decays
is the mean lifetime, , which is defined as the
time it takes for the un-decayed sample to have
reduced by a factor of e = 2.718.... These
standard lifetime measurements are related by the

t1/ 2 ln2
equation 525\* MERGEFORMAT (.)
.
This experiment measured these lifetimes and
also the relationship between the neutronirradiation
period
and
the
subsequent
radioactivity of the sample; i.e. how many betaemissions per minute could be expected
according to neutron exposure time.
III. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Dead Time Calculation for GM Counter
The GM counter used here misses a certain
fraction of the total number of -particles that
enter its chamber due to dead time. The
relationship between actual counts, expected
counts, detection time and dead time is as
follows.
621Equation Chapter (Next) Section 273Equation
Section 3838\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

X`
X

T T XW
Where X` is expected counts, X is measured
counts, T is detection time and W is dead time.
The dead time of the GM counter can be
calculated according to the count rates of various
combinations of a set of twin carbon-14 samples

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

(which are naturally radioactive). By irradiating,
and measuring the rates of both (XB), the left only
(XL), the right only (XR), and neither (XN) carbon
samples for the same period of measurement (T),
the dead time was calculated according the
following equations:

939\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

A
W T (1 1 C)
B

Where A, B and C are:

10310\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

A XL XR XB XN
B XL XR(XN XB ) XB XN (XL XR )
C

B
(X XR XB XN )
A2 L

The calibration data are listed in Table 1. The

statistical uncertainty of the count values is the
square root of the number of counts.

100 s

0s

XL

20519

143.24

XR

32476

180.21

XB

51069

225.98

XN

92

9.59

0.144ms

.042ms

Table 1 - Twin Carbon Data for Dead Time

Calculation

The measured dead time, W = 0.144 .042 ms,

compares well with the counting software (PRA)2
calculation of .191ms. Though this is slightly out
of the range of the error, the exact PRA method of
dead time calculation is not understood by myself
but known to be different to the formula I used,
so the two values cant strictly be compared.
Additionally, the discrepancy didnt present much
of an issue for the purposes of the experiment so
it wont be worried about in this report.

Activation Lifetime of Silver

In order to reduce the time between irradiation
and GM counting a vertical dropping track was
used to transport the sample. Figure 1 depicts
how the Ag sample was dropped into the Am-Be
neutron flux to be held there for a time, and then
with the tug of a stick, allowed to fall past and
land fixed in front of the GM counter for particle detection.

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

Figure 1 - Irradiation and Detection System Schematic

After irradiating a silver sample with the Am-Be

neutron source for 16 minutes, the sample was
placed in front of the GM counter for 30 minutes.
The signal from the GM counter was processed
by the computers sound card and then recorded
by the PRA program, which noted the time of
each beta detection. The data was analysed in
QtiPlot to find the double exponential decay fit
lines and the mean lifetime of each isotope was
calculated. The activity was measured as number
of counts over time and was corrected to include

possible dead time emissions. The data for this

activity is displayed in Figure 2.

Activity Build-up in Silver

The next step was to see how activity builds up

according to exposure time. The previous process
was repeated but for exposure times of 15, 30, 60,
120, 240, and 480 seconds. The 16min (960s)

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

datum was also included for this section. The
expected number of counts as a function of
exposure time is expressed thusly:

IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSION

11311\* MERGEFORMAT (.)

t/ 1

) k2(1 e

d/ i

(1 e

C(t) k1(1 e

ki i i ni i e

t/ 2

c/ i

The Activity build-up graph is found in Figure 3.

The mean life times for the Ag-107 and Ag-109

isotopes, calculated from the QtiPlot fit analysis,
can be read off the data table found within Figure
2. The values are:
124Equation Section 413413\*
109
t 35.2 .5s Ag47

Where:
C = number of counts
t = exposure time
= mean life of active Ag

MERGEFORMAT (.)

107
t 204 4s Ag47

These values (with the uncertainties) fit very well

with the respective accepted values of 35.43s and
206.19s.

= neutron flux
= efficiency of GM counter
= neutron cross-section (for nucleus
capture)
n = number of target nuclei
d = transfer time (calculated from fall
height and gravity)
c = counting time

The activity build-up in the silver is documented

in Figure 3. The red line is QtiPlots initial guess
for the fit and the green line is the same fit but
with the known mean lifetimes factored in.
revealed that after about seven minutes of
exposure to the Am-Be neutron source, the silver
had become as radioactive as it could. This
asymptotic pattern is expected from a finite
source of irradiated nuclei.

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

Figure 2 - Activity of silver after 16 minutes of thermal neutron bombardment

RADIOACTIVITY BUILD-UP IN SILVER

Figure 3 - Activity buildup in silver over time

V. REFERENCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1

The University of Sydney School of Physics

for the lab notes and equipment.

Marek Dolleiser for his supervision and

help regarding this experiment.

1 Abundance of Ag isotopes
http://periodictable.com/Elements/047/data.html
last accessed 9/12/2015 02:48:00

2
PRA Software is a counting and analysis software used for nuclear radiation experiments. The
programme
was
written
by
Marek
Dolleiser
and
is
found
online
at
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~marek/pra/