The Geiger-Mueller Tube,

Nuclear Electronics, and

Counting Statistics
GENERAL GOALS:
1.
Understand the operation of detectors
and electronics used in studying nuclear and high
energy physics
2.
Understand statistics

Reading:

Study the theory of the Geiger-Mueller

tube: A.C.Melissinos, Experiments in
Modern Physics, p. 175-193

Study the theory of counting statistics:

A.C.Melissinos, Experiments in Modern
Physics, p. 438-458, 479-487;
P.R.Bevington & D.K.Robinson, Data
Reduction and Error Analysis for the
Physical Sciences, p. 17-37,53-57
Binomial statistics
Poisson statistics
Gaussian statistics

Read the handout An Introduction to

Nuclear Electronics

Study the operation of the oscilloscope,

especially the function of various
triggering controls

Quickly read about the interaction of

radiation with matter: A.C.Melissinos,
Experiments in Modern Physics, p. 150174

Quickly read about radiation safety:

A.C.Melissinos, Experiments in Modern
Physics, p. 137-149

Before doing the later part of this

experiment, read the handout
COUNTS: A Hardware-Software
System for Acquiring Relative Timing
Data about Cosmic Rays and Nuclear
Events

UNITS USED WHEN

DISCUSSING RADIATION
See A.C.Melissinos, Experiments in
Modern Physics, p.143-147.
The curie ( abbreviated Ci) is a measure
of the activity of the sample, that is the number
of nuclear disintegrations in a given time.
Specifically the curie is 3.7 X 1010
disintegrations per second, which is the activity
of a gram of radium. In the SI system of units,
the curie has been replaced by the becquerel (Bq)
with 1 curie = 37 X 109 Bq, so a Bq is 1
disintegration per second.
The activity of a source ( in Ci or Bq) is
one way to describe the amount of radiation
present. An alternative method is to give the flux
of radiation. That is the number of quanta (
alpha, beta, gamma, protons, chickens . . . or
whatever) incident on a unit area per unit of time
( for example the number of betas incident on 1
cm2 /s ).
There is another type of radiation unit,
that is related to the interaction of radiation with
living tissue. As radiation passes through matter,
it interacts and in general deposits energy in the
matter. A rad of radiation will deposit 100 ergs
of energy for each gram of tissue it passes
through. Starting from the activity of a source or
the flux of the radiation and converting to rads is
not a simple process, because this involves
details of the interaction between the specific
type of tissue and the specific type and energy of
the radiation. Recently SI replaced the rad with
the gray (Gy). A gray of radiation will deposit
10,000 ergs of energy for each gram ( or 1 J/kg)
of tissue it passes through ( 100 rad = 1 Gy).
Even when losing the same amount of
energy in a given bit of living tissue, different
kinds of radiation cause different degrees of
damage. This is because for some type of
radiation a given particle may interact relatively
infrequently, but given deposit a relatively large
amount of energy during each interaction, while a

particle of different type of radiation, may

interact frequently, but lose only a small amount
of energy in each interaction. The energy
deposited per gram of tissue may be the same but
the damage is different. Thus a further set of
units is needed.
The rem ( roentgen equivalent unit ( a
roentgen is basically 1 rad of gammas)) is the
standard old unit for radiation damage and the
sievert (Sv) is the new SI unit. 100 rem = 1 Sv.
The amount of radiation present in Gy, is
multiplied by an RBE (relative biological
effectiveness) factor to yield the amount of
radiation damage in sieverts. The RBE for x
rays, gammas and betas is 1, protons it is 10 and
for alpha it is 20. Thus the same number of rads
or grays of alphas in much more damaging the
equivalent amount of gammas.
Note the rem or the sievert do not
indicate how quickly the damage was done. So
often the radiation field is reported in rem/hr or
or mrem/ year or Sv/year. Acceptable limits of
radiation exposure have decreased over the years
as more information on the long term effects of
radiation have become available. For the general
public the acceptable whole body exposure is 0.1
rem/yr = 1 mSv/yr, while for radiation workers
the limit is 5 rem / yr. If the radiation exposure is
limited to the skin or extremities the limit is even
higher. Typical exposures per year to a member
of the public may include:
35-60 mrem from cosmic rays ( strong
altitude dependance)
35-70 mrem from natural radioactive
sources
30-350 mrem from natural radioactive
sources within the body
( 25 from K40,
1 from C14,
remainder from Ra226)
100 mrem from medical x-rays.

One of our typical poker chip sources

will produce a radiation field a one meter of
about 0.001 mrem/hr.

HOMEWORK
For this experiment the following sources
(found in the white plastic box) were made in
June 1995 and each had an activity of 1 0.2
Curie.
Isotope
half life
Cs-137
30.2
years
Cd-109
464
days
Co-60
5.27
years
Ba 133
10.5
years
Co-57
271
days
Mn-54
313
days
Calculate the current activity of these
Q1.
sources. Also calculate the number of atoms of
Cs-137 and the mass of Cs-137 originally
contained on the source.
What is the flux at a distance of 1 meter
Q2.
from a 1 Ci source?
If you record 1000 counts in one second
Q3.
in a single measurement, what is your expected
uncertainty in this measurement?
Relate the parameters that define a given
Q4.
binomial, Poisson and Guassian distribution
various physical ( possibly measurable) values in
this experiment.
Show that the Gaussian and Poisson
Q5.
distributions are good approximations of the
binomial distribution under certain conditions.
Clearly identify these conditions. Are these
condition met in this experiment?
In the last part of this experiment you
Q6.
will studying the distribution of random events in
time. Derive the expected distribution.

INVESTIGATIONS
1.

The Geiger Mueller Tube

Investigate the effect of varying the

voltage applied Geiger-Mueller tube on the size
and shape of the pulses from the signal spliter
box. Use just the Geiger-Mueller tube, a
radioactive source, oscilloscope, pulse signal
splitter box, & high voltage power supply.
Measure the peak voltage of the pulse,
the duration of the pulse, and the overall shape of
the pulse as a function of applied voltage.
Compare your observations and measurements
with the expected operation of the GeigerMueller tube and the associated circuit. Plot the
pulse height vs the applied high voltage. Make a
semi-log plot. Is there evidence of a plateau
region?
Pulses of various heights can be
observed at a given high voltage setting.
Investigate the variations in pulse height as a
function of applied high voltage (both absolute
and relative pulse height variation).
What is the physics of what you are
observing? How is the pulse size related to the
number of ionized molecules produced in the
Geiger-Muller tube by a single high energy
particle?
What is dead time?
What is quenching?
Describe the function of the signal
splitter.

2.

(have both the AMP OUT and the TCSA OUT

displayed on the oscilloscope).
Route the output of the TSCA into the
counter and figure out how to use the counter.
Summarize your investigation of the
amplifier/TSCA and counter by writing a one
page users manual. Write down all of the
setting and make circuit diagrams.

3.

The Plateau Curve in Count Rate

Investigate the number of counts

recorded in a fixed length of time as a function of
high voltage applied to the Geiger-Mueller tube.
(You can use the Counts program for this part.)
Take at least 10 repetitions at each voltage
setting. Also observe the variation in the outputs
of the AMP and the TSCA as a function of
applied high voltage. Plot everything that is
changing vs. applied voltage. Consider making
semi-log and log-log plots as appropriate.
What is the physics of what you are
observing?
In this experiment, the size of the pulse
from the GM tube varies, should you correct this
pulse height variation with the amplifier gain
before the signal reaches the TSCA? Why or
why not? Try measuring the count rate as a
function of high voltage applied to the GM tube
while keeping the pulse size after the amplifier
constant. This would be a measure of the GM
relative detection efficiency as a function of
applied voltage.

Electronics

Investigate the effect on the signal for the

splitter box, of connecting the amplifier as well
as the oscilloscope.
Investigate the operation of the amplifier.
Describe the effects of various controls on the
amplifiers output ( have both the output of the
signal splitter box and AMP OUT displayed on
the oscilloscope).
Investigate the operation of the TSCA
including the effect of changing the various
amplifier control settings and the TSCA settings

4.

Detection Efficiency

What is the current activity of each of

the different sources you are using, based of the
original activity, the creation date, and the halflives? What fraction of these activities did you
detect? How is this related to the overall
detection efficiency? Estimate how the geometry
of the source and detector effect this efficiency?
Is the detections efficiency constant with
as the voltage applied to the GM tube is
changed?

5.

Statistics

With the high voltage set to operate the

GM tube in the middle of its plateau region, and
using a radioactive source, record the number of
counts for a fixed time (10-30 seconds). Collect
at least 50 data points. Make a histogram of this
data set, and graph the appropriately scaled
binomial, poisson, and gaussian curves on the
histogram. How good is the match for each of
these curves
Repeat the above procedure, but with the
source removed and adjust the counting time so
that only a few counts are recorded in each
period. What has happened to the agreement
between the histogram and the statistical
distribution curves, and of course, WHY?
From your data above, calculate the
probabilities that an event will be recorded within
an interval of 10-5 second; an interval of 10-3
second, and an interval of 1 second. What are
the probabilities of two events happening within
an interval of 10-5 second long, an interval of 10-3
second, and an interval of 1 second.
Set the GM high voltage to the middle of
the plateau region, and record the number of
counts detected in various lengths of time (1
second to 1 minute). For each length of time take
enough data (10-50 repetitions) to make a
reasonable histogram of the number of events
observed. Using this data, calculate the mean
number of counts and the standard deviation of
the mean for each voltage setting. Then make a
log-log plot of standard deviation vs. the mean
number of counts. What is the significance of
this plot and the slope ( if there is one)? What is
the statistical explanation? How does the width
of the histogram compare with the standard
deviation..

6.

Randomness of Events in Time

See A.C.Melissinos, Experiments in
Modern Physics, p.189-193, 484-487.

Investigate the randomness of events in

time from both a radioactive source and
background radiation. Many of the background
radiation events may be related to cosmic rays.
Because one cosmic ray could produce a cascade
of particles along its path, it is quite possible that
cosmic-ray event could be clustered in time. Use
the COUNTS hardware/software system to
record a large number ( several thousand events
if possible).
Plot the time interval between event n-1
and event n against the time interval between
event n and event n+1. What is the meaning of
this plot?
Follow the ideas in A.C.Melissinos,
Experiments in Modern Physics ( p.189-193) for
further analysis of your data. Plot a histogram of
the time separations between events, using
various bin widths. Compare with the expected
results.

7.

Analysis of the Pulse Height

(Advanced)

Connect the output of the AMP to an

MCA. Record the pulse height histogram
(spectra) as a function of the voltage applied to
the GM tube. In particular, this may provide
interesting information when the tube is operating
in the proportional counter region. Try
comparing the spectra produce when using
different radioactive sources. Correlate this with
the type and energy of the radiation emitted by
the source.