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A Determination of the Half-Value Periods of Radium C′ and Thorium C′, with a Note on Time Lags in a Geiger Counter

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Abstract

DURING the development of the method of coincidence counting for nuclear investigations1,2, it appeared useful to construct a coincidence counter with a variable electrical resolving time in order to provide a method for determining radioactive half-value periods of the order of 1 second or less. The basic principle is that if a radioactive source is placed between two Geiger counters connected to a coincidence counter with resolving time τ, and if, in the course of successive disintegration, the source emits pairs of particles which are both detectable by the counters, a genuine coincidence rate of will result, where λ is the disintegration constant of the short-lived nucleus.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge

    J. V. DUNWORTH

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  1. J. V. DUNWORTH
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DUNWORTH, J. A Determination of the Half-Value Periods of Radium C′ and Thorium C′, with a Note on Time Lags in a Geiger Counter. Nature 144, 152–153 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144152b0

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