Day 2 Analysis

Day 2 Analysis

Complete the following set of analysis exercises and submit by 11:59 pm the day before you are due back in lab.

Bullet points which do not begin with Describe… do not require discussion.

When you are asked to provide a plot or a figure it should be what we would consider publication quality. I.e., it should be readable with reasonable sized fonts and data points, have properly scaled and labeled axes, include a clear and complete caption, etc.

When you are asked to present formulas they should be properly formatted, and variables should be defined.

When asked to show numerical values they should be labeled, have an appropriate number of significant figures, and have units.

Show your data and analysis for the linear attenuation coefficient of 662keV gamma rays in Al. Include the following:

  • a plot of the count rate (either rate $R$ or normalized rate $R/R_0$) of 662 keV gammas as a function of aluminum absorber thickness, with an exponential fit to the data;
  • the mathematical model used as the fit function;
  • all fit parameters (with uncertainties and units) and the reduced chi-squared value for the fit; and
  • the final value for your measured linear coefficient at this energy, $\lambda(E=662~\textrm{keV})$, with uncertainty.
  • Describe how you estimated the number of counts in the full energy peak including how you determined the number of background counts. This description should require no more than one short paragraph, or just a few sentences.
  • Describe the degree of agreement between your experimental value and the literature value (available below). I.e. were you in agreement (or disagreement) and what was the metric that you used to determine this? This description should require no more than one short paragraph, or just a few sentences.

If you collected additional attenuation data for other gamma energies, you do not need to submit that analysis until you finish data collection on Day 3.