Thursday, October 13, 2016

Fall 2016: RDCH 702 Lecture 6 Decay Kinetics

This lecture covers the fundamental equations that describe the decay of radionuclides; covered in two parts. Basic equations and their utility are presented. The implications on error from counting is provided.  Equations for mixtures, equilibrium, and branching of radionuclides are covered.  The use of a program to solve the Bateman equation is presented. The use of cross sections in determining production rates are covered. Saturation in isotope production due to the decay of the daughter is described. Discussion of natural radiation and dating are given. Examples are provided using the equations under a host of conditions. These include examples for dating from 238U, 14C, and the Oklo reactor. Lecture 1 is 44 minutes, lecture 2 is 31 minutes.  The PDF quiz is due 24 October 2016.

9 comments:

  1. Lectures completed and quiz submitted. I believe there maybe an error in question 1.

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  2. i am confused about it as well, i emailed Ken asking about it.

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  3. The error is the count time. It should be seconds rather than minutes. The change has been made. This should now be clear. Thanks for the notification.

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  4. quiz submitted.

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  5. I made a correction in question 1. It should read 250 seconds rather than minutes. This will change the answer from the initial calculation.

    The total number of counts it:

    20 Bq x 250 seconds X 0.075 = 375 counts. The error is the square root of this number, 19.4. So the counts can range from 375 +- 19.4.

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  6. Answers to PDF quiz 6 are now available.

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