This has two basic mathematical...When using the protactinium generator you will also need various other items listed here.Want to ask it in a safe, friendly, knowledgeable environment? So if we want to restart our experiment we have to wait for the protactinium to be sufficiently concentrated in the aqueous layer. This demonstration uses a 'protactinium generator' to show the exponential decay of protactinium-234, a grand-daughter of uranium.
work it out!Here are the results for the Indium-116 half life experiment. Have a spills tray available. The time taken for the activity of a radioactive source to reduce by half is called the half-life of the source. Table 4 shows some results of this experiment …
Uranium-233 is produced by the neutron irradiation of thorium-232. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Measuring the half-life of a radioactive isotope brings some of the wonder of radioactive decay into the school laboratory. Using John Sharkey’s Virtual Animations I complete the Half Life of Protactinium 234. However, you can make your own if you prefer.These quantities make a total volume of 20 cm3. The Protactinium Generator is ideal for demonstrating radioactive decay. For many long-lived nuclides, such as 3 H, 14 C, 22 Na, 36 Cl, 60 Co, 137 Cs and 235 U, the much shorter biological half-life (10–70 d) is dominant [ … The biological half-life cannot be determined as precisely as the physical half-life, and the dominance of either rate differs from one radionuclide to another. Nevertheless, polythene bottles can be used, provided no attempt is made to store the liquid in them for more than a few weeks.The organic layer which separates out contains the protactinium-234. It has a half-life of just over a minute, which gives students the chance to measure and analyze the decay in a single lesson. )Once you have made the protactinium generator, you can store it with other radioactive materials, taking care to follow your school code of practice and local rules: see the Managing radioactive materials in schools guidance note:A polypropylene bottle is preferable to polythene because it is somewhat more resistant to attack by the acid and ketone.
TAP 514- 1: Measuring half life of protactinium Following your school or college’s safety procedures carefully, measure the half-life of a short-lived radioactive isotope. The half-life could be measured using the aparatus shown below:Before the source is used the background count rate is measured using a Geiger Muller tube connected to a counter. This uses fabric gas mantles designed for camping lights. Explore different ways in which a half-life value can be obtained from this apparatus: Measuring half-life. A number of measurements are made and an average value is calculated. You can scale them up if you have a larger bottle. This decays with a half-life of about 70 seconds.An alternative to protactinium: A new, effective and extremely low hazard system for measuring half-life is available from Cooknell Electronics Ltd, Weymouth, DT4 9TJ. Protactinium has no stable isotopes. Isotopes: Protactinium has 27 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 212 to 238. Plot a suitable graph showing how the activity of the sample changes with time, and hence show that the decay is indeed exponential. Have a spills tray available. Students can witness one element turning into another and hear (or see) the decrease in the radiation it gives out as it transmutes. What is the activity of the source one hour later?In order to calculate the activity of the source one hour later you need to take the following steps:
Measuring half life: You can measure the half life of some isotopes in the laboratory.