Abstract
A multi-functional teaching apparatus has been developed for α and β spectroscopy utilizing a solidstate detector and associated electronics. The possible experiments include conventional measurements to determine α and β decay energies, half lives, characteristic energy loss of nuclear particles in matter, and limits on the β-neutrino mass set from endpoints in β-decay spectra. In addition, the relativistic mass increase of b particles is verified using a high-efficiency, axially symmetric permanent ringmagnet β spectrometer. The basic apparatus also can be adapted for experiments in Rutherford scattering and other nuclear measurements.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 883-893 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | American Journal of Physics |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors thank B. Demkowski and M. Bales for their help, Professor Sobotka for calculating the 204Tl correction factors using the Washington University MATHCAD templates