STUDY OF BETA RAY ABSORPTION AND DETERMINATION OF

MASS ABSORTION COEFFICIENT OF THE ABSORBER MATERIAL

OBJECTIVE: (1) To study the beta ray absorption in a given material and (2) to determine the
mass absorption coefficient of the absorber material.
APPARATUS: (1) GM tube and stand; (2) GM counting system; (3) given radioactive source
and (4) Aluminum absorber set.
THERORY:
Whenever a charged particle of some kinetic energy passes through a material, it loses its energy
due to collision with the atomic electrons. The range of a charged particle in an absorber is the
average depth of penetration of the charged particle into the absorber before it loses all of its
kinetic energy and stops. The energy of the particle, which is a function of the mass of the
particle and its velocity, and the electrical charge of the particle affect the range of the charged
particle in a material.
If 𝐼0 is the intensity of the incident beam of β-particles and 𝐼𝑥 is the intensity of the beam after
travelling a distance x in the absorber material, then the absorption law can be given as;
𝑰𝒙 = 𝑰𝟎 𝒆−𝝁𝒙
Where μ is the linear absorption coefficient. If x is in cm then μ will be in cm -1. Usually the
equation is written as
𝑰𝒅 = 𝑰𝟎 𝒆−𝝁𝒎 𝒅
Where 𝑰𝒅 is the intensity of the beam after travelling a distance d in the absorber; 𝜇𝑚 is the mass
𝜇
absorption coefficient = where ρ is the density of the material usually expressed in gm cm-3.
𝜌

Thus 𝜇𝑚 is expressed in cm2 gm-1. The absorber thickness (d = ρ.x) is expressed in units of gm
cm-2. Apart from the given absorber materials there may arise other three kinds of absorbers due
to air, source and window of the GM tube. Thus mass absorption co-efficient is actually taken as
d = dabsorber+ dair+ dwindow+ dsource
where dabsorber= mass thickness of the absorber; dair= mass thickness of the air between the source
and the counter; dwindow= mass thickness of the material of the window of the counter and dsource=
mass thickness of the plate covering the source.
(NOTE: All these thickness are expressed in the equivalent mass thickness of Al)

Page 1 of 4
 GM Tube

Source GM

Window
Anode wire C Tube
SCALAR
Ar gas Amplifier
R
Cathode

HV SUPPLY

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of GM tube and its associated electronics

If 𝑵𝒅 is the count rate corresponding to 𝑰𝒅 and 𝑵𝒐 be the corresponding count to 𝑰𝒐 ; then we can
𝑵𝒅 𝑰𝒅
write; = = 𝒆−𝝁𝒎 (𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒔+𝒅𝒘 +𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓+𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )
𝑵𝟎 𝑰𝟎
𝑵(𝒅𝒘 +𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 +𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )
If dabs = 0, then, −𝝁𝒎 (𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒔 + 𝒅𝒘 + 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 + 𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )= 𝒍𝒏 𝑵𝟎

𝑰(𝒅𝒘 +𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 +𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )

= 𝒍𝒏 𝑰𝟎

𝟐.𝟑𝟎𝟑 𝒍𝒏 𝒇 𝑰(𝒅𝒘 +𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 +𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )

So 𝝁𝒎 = -(𝒅 +𝒅 +𝒅 𝒘 ) where 𝒇𝒘 =
𝒘 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝑰𝟎

Procedure:
1. At first draw the plateau curve of the given GM counter and identify the operating
voltage.
2. Set the voltage at that value and start to place the absorbers one by one on to the holder.
Note that the absorber rack should be placed at just the upper stair of the source.
3. Take the counts for two times for each absorber thickness (make the mean count) and
draw the absorption curve.
4. From the absorbance curve calculate the back ground count.
5. Draw the extrapolation curve by subtracting the background count from each observed
count.
6. Estimate the count for zero observer by drawing the axis for zero absorber.

Page 2 of 4
 Data recording and Tables
1. Data for drawing the plateau curve of the given G. M Counter and to find the
operating voltage
Source used: Preset time: Position of the source:

EHT Observed counts Mean Standard

Voltage count deviation
̅
𝒏 ̅
𝝈 = ±√𝒏
n1 n2 n3

2. Thickness of the Al-absorbers required for absorption experiment:

Serial no Thickness (mg/cm2)

3. Data for drawing absorption curve for the given source:

Source used: Absorber used:
Operating voltage: Preset time:
Position of source: Position of absorber:
Sl no. of No. of Thickness No of No of Mean Actual
observa absorber (mg/cm2) counts n1 counts n2 counts counts
tion 𝑛̅ 𝑛̅ + ±√𝑛̅

Background count from the absorption curve:

4. Data for finding the value of (𝒅𝒘 + 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 + 𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 ):
Air gap between Value of Al absorber in 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒅𝒘 𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 Total
source and (mg/cm2) equivalent to
counter in cm 1 cm of air

Page 3 of 4
5. Data for drawing extrapolation curve:
Absorber Observed count from Background Actual count
Thickness graph count
(mg/cm2)

6. Data for finding out 𝝁𝒎 :

Absorber Value of Total Counts Count Value of 𝝁𝒎
Thickness (𝒅𝒘 + thickness Nd N0 Nd/N0
𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓 +
𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆 )

Page 4 of 4