- #1
jdou86
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- Homework Statement
- GRE
- Relevant Equations
- GRE PHysics
Statistics of radioactive decay
- Thread starter jdou86
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SUMMARY
The discussion focuses on calculating the uncertainty in radioactive decay measurements, specifically using the formula for standard deviation, where sigma is the square root of the number of counts (N). Participants emphasize the importance of achieving a lower uncertainty percentage, ideally 1%, which requires a significantly higher count of measurements, such as 10,000 counts. The conversation highlights the need for a strategic approach to solving these problems, particularly in estimating decay rates based on existing measurements.
PREREQUISITES- Understanding of radioactive decay principles
- Familiarity with statistical concepts, specifically standard deviation
- Knowledge of measurement techniques in experimental physics
- Ability to perform calculations involving uncertainty
- Research the calculation of uncertainty in radioactive decay using Poisson statistics
- Learn about the significance of sample size in reducing measurement uncertainty
- Explore methods for estimating decay rates from experimental data
- Study the implications of measurement uncertainty in scientific experiments
Physicists, researchers in experimental science, and students studying radioactive decay and measurement uncertainty will benefit from this discussion.
- #2
mfb
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Same as in the other thread, you'll have to show what you did so far.
I extended the title to be more descriptive of the problem statement.
If you have a measurement, e.g. 100 counts in 7 seconds, what will your uncertainty on the rate be?
I extended the title to be more descriptive of the problem statement.
If you have a measurement, e.g. 100 counts in 7 seconds, what will your uncertainty on the rate be?
- #3
jdou86
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10 since since sigma is sqrt of N so I set sqrtN/N=0.1 but that didn't get me very far
- #4
Vanadium 50
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jdou86 said:
These problems take longer than a second to solve. Why don't you write down your strategy for solving this. In words.
- #5
mfb
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Well, that is an important step already. An uncertainty of 10 is an uncertainty of 10% here. Too much, you'll need more counts to get to 1%...jdou86 said:
- #6
jdou86
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I'm good thanksVanadium 50 said:
- #7
jdou86
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Sorry it's supposed to be 0.01 but it still won't make sense because 10,000 counts represents 1000s measurement.mfb said:
- #8
- #9
mfb
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10000 counts is correct. You can use the existing measurements to get a rough estimate of the decay rate and use that to get the time you need to accumulate 10000 counts.
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