- #1
gump
- 11
- 0
okay... I have a problem that I've been asked in my nuclear waste class, and since I have a materials science background, I have no clue where to begin. If someone could let me know where to start with this problem I would greatly appreciate it (don't tell me the answer). I'm supposed to estimate the energy in Mev of an alpha particle from a source of activity 1.0*10(-6) Ci which creates a saturation current of 1.0*10^(-9) A in an ionisation chamber. And I'm supposed to assume e = 1.6*10^(-19) C, 1 Ci = 3.7*10^(10) disintegrations per sec. and 30 eV is needed to produce on ion pair. I know the activity = # of disintegrations/sec = decay constant (lambda) * concentration (n(t)); however, I've been looking at various Nuclear Engineering books and haven't been able to figure out what equations I need for this problem.