Abstract
Graphical analysis of experimental data that exhibit exponential behavior is typically postponed at many institutions until students are able to understand the theory underlying the concept of radioactive decay or of RC time constants in ac circuits. In 1960 Smithson and Pinkston1 described a laboratory exercise that uses the flow of water from a vertical column through a long horizontal capillary tube as a source of data that models radioactive decay. Many institutions have used this experiment simply as an early introduction to exponential behavior without reference to radioactive decay or ac circuits. Greenslade2 recently described a modification of this experiment to demonstrate the concept of secular equilibrium in radioactive decay. This paper presents results of similar experiments, but visual measurements are replaced in this work by data obtained with modern sensors interfaced to a computer. Experiments are described from simple exponential decay to an analogue of the complex interactions of three nuclides in a radioactive-series decay chain.
Published Version
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