Experiment no.

Aim:
(i) To determi11e the Plateau of the given GM counter and its percentage
slope.
(ii) To study statis1it'a l nu c.:11 ia tio11 using r,:ic.lioocli ve sourC'e vJf-t"0~c
~.a~ . -

Objective :
In th is experiment, you will determine the plateau and optimal operating
,·olktgc of a Gcigcr, Muller counter, hence study the quality of the plateau by
irnJing the percentage slope. Also you will find the distribution of count rate
kl'rping the GM operating vo.ltage constant.

.
ADparatus used :
~

l. Radioactive source (e.g., Co.,60, Pb-210,. Tl-204, Sr-90)

2. GM Tube (End window) t,YPeGM125 with~ tand and ~ource holder.
3. Geiger Counting System, type GC60lA or GC602A.
4. Connecting cables.
5. Lead Casde (Optional).

Introduction :

A Geiger-Muller (GM) counter is a gas filled radiation detector used to

ci2Len an ionizi ng radiatron and count the number of radiation quama (beta,
ga1nma etc.) entering the detector for a preset time. All Geiger-Muller (G1v1)
counters do not operate in the exact same way because of differences in their
construction. Consequently, each GM counter has a different high volrnge that
mL:s: be 2pplied to obu1in optimal performance from the instrument. If a
radioactive sample is positioned beneath a tube and the voltage of ihe GM n.ibe
i~; slowly increased by small intervals from zero, the tube does not starl counting
right away. The tube must reach the sta1ting voltage where the electron
''a\/J!tinche" can begin ro p1:oduce a signal. As the voltage is increased beyond
tha t point, the counting ra~e increases quick!y before it stabilizes. \Vhere thr
stabilization begins is a :-egisn ccrnmonly referred to as the knee, or threshold
vc1iuf. Past rhc- knee, inGeases in the vohagr. Gnl_y produce smal.l incrci:ise'..) il: 1.hc
rntin t '.ate. This region is the plateau we are secki11g. Determining tl 1c op1i ~11:.il
cperatmg voltage starts with identifying tlie pJateau first. The end of the platea u
2

/
 is foumJ whl'll incn\1 sing the vo lta ge prnclun'" a s~cn 11<.l large ri 5c in rnun t rutP.
Thi s [Jst region is ci1lled the di schmge region . To help preserve the life of the
tube, the operatin g vollilge should be selected near the middle but towards the
lower half of the plJteau (closer to the knee). If the GM tube operates too
close\~1to the discharge region, and there is a change in the performance of the
tube. Then yo u could possibly operate the tube in a "continuous di scharge"
mode, which can damage the tube. As seen in Fig.1.1, the count rate is fairly
constant between Vl and V2. If Cl and C2 are count rates corresponding to Vl
and V2 respectively, then the mean count rate C is defined as C = (Cl +C2)/2.
Plateau length is defined as (V2-Vl) . The percentage slope of the plateau is
defined as the ratio of slope of the graph in the GM region to the mean count
rate given by,

(C2 -
Cl ) X 1 00% V 1 - 1
Slope = - - - --- o t .
(V2 - Vi) X C

TI!! ~·,h.JJ

< ,,m,r
,-:11~
C "\

\ ------~------- - --- ---✓

/ / ~:- - Pl,w.iu "'~'''" --~
/ . \ .. .
/ \'
I
i
I - ------ - -
.\:,- - - ··- .- \1;pli~d ,.-,,ll''ll~

. . for a GM detector.
Figure 1.1: Output vs applied vo 1ti.lge curve

. ·- . , = (V 2 1 Vl)/2. For good counters t.he

GM operating voltage i_~ given by, Vml i Jd be very small. For industrial
1· length must be large and the s ope s11ou
p ateau . .th 1 th n 0 slope are good. However for research
applicauon counters w1 ess a ..:;'¼ .,
Jpplications, it must be less than 3% •
3
Theory:
Statistical Fluctuation :
The particll:' detection by
a GM count er is a stati sti
number of counts recorded cal phenom enon . Th e
in cert.Ji n intervnl of tim
This nuctudtion is gove rn e does not remnin co nstnnt
ed by Lhc law of probabi .
(if me an co unts < 20) or Iity and expresse d by Poi sso
Ga ussian rlisLribution law n
Under ce rtain conditions, (se e the Lab Manual) .
we can predkt the distrib
,, ill describe the results of ution function that
many repetitions of a give
gencrc1\ tlworCLical distr n measurement. The most
ibution is the Binomial di
Poisson distribution when str ib ution which simplifies to
the probability of success
mean value of the distribut p << 1. If in addition, the
ion <x> is large, (say > 20
can be made, which lead ) additional simplification
to the Gaussian distributio
n,

This function satisfies the

following properties
oo .
1. Normalization cond
ition :
Jx=O P( x) dx = 1
2. Predicted variance is eq
ual to the mean value, a2
= <x>

Figure 1 2· c .
. ,
i-l<J-i- ?< 'l' .a.d .1auss1an frequency fu
.. ' .. . . . '' n ±3 0' ar ea s. nct·1on sho~ .~~1·1"•)
n lb

tl
 Procedure:

1. Geig er Counting Systl'lll, type GC60 1/\ and GC6

02A are designed around
eH1t bit micrucoutrolh.'r chip. whi ch Is programmuble
::, .
2. Before switchi ng on the GCS, the volta ge knob
is to be set at minimum by
turning it anticlockwise. A beta radioactive source
is placed at a suitable slot of
the C~1 stand, using a source holder.
3. START, STOP, PROG, STORE, INC & DEC com
mand buttons have been
proYided on the fro nt panel key pad.
4. Program mabi lity Includes selection of Pres
et Time, Storing or Recalling of
data. starting and stopping of acquisition etc.
S. First. using PROG button, preset time is set
(say, 20s, 30s etc) and saved by
pressing INC or DEC command buttons (up-dow
n arrow).
6. ~ow. using START button, counts, High Volt
age, sl no. and elapsed time are
displayed in the l6 x2 LCD dotmatrix display. At
the end of the preset time the
counter stops and the total counts is to be recorded
.
-;_ At first, there will be no counts at HV= 0V. By
gradually increasing the HV in
steps of 20V or 25V, the voltage at which the coun
ts begin to appear is noted
and successive counts are recorded serially.
8. The number of counts increases with incre
ase of HV in the begining and
remains nearly constant over about l00V and the
counts then increase abruptly.
9. The counts are plotted against HY applied and
the plateau characteristics are
determined.
10. Keeping the HV at the middle of the plate
au region, counts/20 or 50s are
reco rded 100 times. The total counts recorded in
each interval should not be less
rn2.n 20 (for using Gaussian distribution). The data
range is first divided into
suiLc1bie class intervals and frequency of each class
interval is tallied. A
hi stogram is first drawn and then the Frequency distr
ibution functions are
plotted using Gaussian distribution.

Experimental Observations :

Source used : Activity =

Mfg. date = Beta endpoint energy =
Half life= [Ref. Lab manual]
Decay scheme (Draw) - do -

5
 (a) Data for GM characte1·istics :

Table-I
Preset time :

I- sT.-- - - -- - .
- . -
El!T Counts Error
/ No. (Volts) Sct-1 Set-2 Set-3 Mean [ ±✓(N/3)J
...
l__ (N)

i
I
I
I !

r
(a.1) Determination of Plateau length and operating voltage
(V): . .

(a.2) Calculation of pc slope :

(b) Data for drawing statistical fluctuation (Gaussian) :

Table-2
Preset time =
High Voltage applied = V
Background counts (before) =
Background counts (afrer) =

SL No . Number of counts (x)

. - - - - - --- - -- -- -~ -- - - -

Data Analysis:

(i) Drawing of graphs :

(A) GM characteristic curve :

Graph for table-1 is plotted with corrected counts along y-axis and
applied voltage along x--axis and mid-point of the plateau region is
marked.

6
 (B) Histogram :
The maxh rnm1 and 111i11i11111rn vnlUP S of lhc 100 co u11ts
rl'cordl'cl in
Tahle-2 nre u:-;rd to fi11cl till' rnngr of the Vi.lrinhlP (co u11
ts x), whlch is
suhd ividC'd into ~11it.1hl c cli1~s intt•rvnb ol c•q11al width
(hJ . ThP
frequencies of ocnu-rcncl'~ ul x1 (si.ly 1 ) for l'uC li
1 clu ss intcrvc.1 l c.1re
obtai ned and frequen cy den sity di stribution fun ction is
cJ lculated
nsmg ,
F(x) - _(, ! N :.. f;l 100 (N - [ f, = I 00)
Th is c.listributi.on function is plotted as histogram.
r:::-; -
-(.) Class
interval
Mid
points
Tally
marks
Frequ~ncy Freq.
(f1 ) density
(wid th=h)
F iXi, 1 P(x,) P(x,).h
Xs.
1 (X1) <Fi= f; /N)
1

1 .F, I
I ,
~

1-
....
·- - - - -- ~- - __ ..
•

- - ~ - -- I
-- - - --- ~- -- - ,-- - - -
I
I

Experimental mean (<x>) is calculated using the relation,

(C) To draw the Gaussian distribution curve :

Using this value of mean (<x>) the predicted distributi

on function of
the Gaussian distribution are
calculated for different values of xi (mid-value of each
class interval).
P(x) must be multiplied by the
v'idth of the corresponding class interval (h) to get the
1
probability for
t1. ~.' class interval and normalization condition
sat:·-Jicd. A con tinu ou~ rye is drawn through these poin
ts to get the
Gauss, ·., _'1 Distribution curve.

(ii) Calc ulation of statb tj~al parameters :

Mean number of coun t:, = <x>

Most probable co~nt = cou ct having highest frequency

Standard deviation

Predicted standard deviat' ,rn, I a= v(ri

7
 Standard error <r/ VN

The number of readings in tile ronge x ± o (shoL1ld be 68. ~311/o of total

readings)

Result and discussion :

The experimenta l standard deviation is found to agree, well with th e

predicted standard deviation
foL the Gaussian distribution . Hence, the observed distribution is
1

concluded Lo be of Gaussian type.

KB, 29.12.2020