Demonstration of Polonium Activity
Equipment
Stage, camera holder, source holder, polonium-210, Minipix-EDU
Procedure
- Launch the Pixet Basic software and modify settings to the following:
- Min Level: 0
- Max Level: 50
- Measurement Mode: Tracking
- Frames: 100
- Exposure: 1 s
- Sum: uncheck
- Color Map: Hot
- Mount the MiniPix EDU camera and polonium on the stage.
- Keep the camera and the source approximately 2 cm away and click on the play button.
Results
- We observe two different types of tracks, as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1. The alpha particle blobs and some gamma photons - We have an abundance of blobs of alpha particles and some pixels of gamma particles.
- Polonium does not emit any beta radiation but sometimes the background radiation can result in some beta tracks as well.
Conclusion
- We observe large alpha particle blobs and the energy absorbed is also relatively higher (3000 keV to 4000 keV) compared to other sources that we will see in upcoming experiments.
- The energy of small tracks of gamma particles usually does not exceed 20 keV.