Abstract
Abstract In this paper, we present in details a method for determining the soil density of disturbed samples. The mass attenuation coefficient was also evaluated by using the relation between the number of photon counts and the path length (soil density \texttimes thickness). A typical student laboratory setup (PASCO) was utilized in the measurements. A gamma ray source of 137Cs and soils with four different textural classes were employed. The experimental apparatus here proposed, that uses an educational gamma ray attenuation system, permitted measuring, with very good agreement with the traditional method, the density of soil samples. The experiment can be somehow extended by proposing the investigation of soil bulk variations due, for instance, to soil compaction, a subject of interest for engineering and environmental physics students.
Highlights
The gamma ray attenuation (GRA) technique has been applied with success in many areas of knowledge such as medicine, engineering, geology, environmental and soil sciences
The soil mass attenuation coefficient is described as a measurement of the probability of the interaction between the gamma ray photons and the atoms that compose the absorber
The experiment involves the use of a GRA apparatus usually existing in teaching laboratories of Modern Physics around the world
Summary
The gamma ray attenuation (GRA) technique has been applied with success in many areas of knowledge such as medicine, engineering, geology, environmental and soil sciences. Gamma ray beams interact with the matter according to the Beer-Lambert attenuation law (I =Ioe−μρx) where the mass attenuation coefficient () is related to the capacity of a material for attenuating the incident radiation. This coefficient is dependent on the elemental composition of the absorber as well as the energy of the incident gamma radiation [2]. In the areas of soil and environmental physics GRA allows evaluating the effect of natural and anthropogenic actions in the porous media [8]. The experiment involves the use of a GRA apparatus usually existing in teaching laboratories of Modern Physics around the world
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