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 program is ERC Nuclide. 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.
The lecture and the quiz were both good! For the pop quiz at the end, I used the uncertainty value calculated from the square root and got that 73 and 104 counts were both unlikely.
ReplyDeletegreat! That is correct.
DeleteI got the same thing, however I feel as though it is still possible to see values of 73 and 104, although they are less likely to occur.
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. correct answer.
DeleteI really appreciated the derivations relating to the binomial distribution, decay statistics, average life, etc. In my introductory nuclear engineering class I remember being given τ = 1.44*t½ for the average life of a radionuclide but I thought it was an empirical equation because we did not derive the formula in class.
ReplyDeletethank you very much. That is excellent to know. Sometime equation derivations are worthwhile.
DeleteYou should've given the derivation for the Bateman equation then XD
DeleteThere was a lot of information but presented in a manageable fashion. I'm especially excited to finally know what the cross section in the chart of nuclides is used for.
ReplyDeleteI try to keep each lecture under 40 minutes to make them manageable.
DeleteI enjoyed the derivations for the formulas as Shelby mentioned because it led me to a greater understanding of each concept. And again the examples really helped me in this lecture because of the greater amount of information.
ReplyDeletethanks, great to see the examples helped.
DeleteThe carbon-14 radioactive dating equation that you gave us was really helpful, I had never thought about it that way before!
ReplyDeleteexcellent to hear.
DeleteI agree with Remy I'm definitely excited to know about the cross sections.
ReplyDeletePOP QUIZ:
I also obtained the answer of 73 and 104 using the uncertainty from the square root. At first I was confused but looking at the blog I realized where to start this is a great tool!
thanks for the comment!
DeleteThe counting lab we did seems like the other half of the radioactive dating part of the Powerpoint. Could have been cool to use a few of these concepts in the counting lab (maybe a counting/dating lab).
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment. We will definitely look into incorporating some of the lecture into the counting laboratory.
DeleteAnswers to PDF Quiz 3 posted at http://radchem.nevada.edu/classes/rfss/pdf%20quizzes.html
ReplyDeleteWhat is the picture of the cats on the first slide alluding to?
ReplyDeletesee Schrodinger's cat
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete