Presentation Type
Poster
Full Name of Faculty Mentor
Monica Gray, Physics and Engineering Science
Major
Engineering Science
Presentation Abstract
Nuclear weapons are a constant threat. They give a country the ability to wipe out entire cities and make the area unlivable. Which is why it is necessary to watch for their creation. This paper will show how nuclear weapon proliferation by states can be detected using neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are released from the decay of radioactive isotopes and rarely react to matter. To prove that neutrinos can do this, an experiment of the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 and a sodium-iodine scintillator, are used. During the experiment environment factors were recorded every 10 minutes and the data logger recorded neutrino count every 30 minutes. The results of the experiment will show how neutrinos coming from the isotope, show how it is decaying and even give us a base of what environmental factors may lead to change in its decay.
Location
Virtual Poster Session 2
Start Date
22-4-2021 4:30 PM
End Date
22-4-2021 6:30 PM
Recommended Citation
Beeson, Lee, "Watching for Nuclear Proliferation with Neutrinos" (2021). Undergraduate Research Competition. 102.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/ugrc/2021/fullconference/102
Watching for Nuclear Proliferation with Neutrinos
Virtual Poster Session 2
Nuclear weapons are a constant threat. They give a country the ability to wipe out entire cities and make the area unlivable. Which is why it is necessary to watch for their creation. This paper will show how nuclear weapon proliferation by states can be detected using neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are released from the decay of radioactive isotopes and rarely react to matter. To prove that neutrinos can do this, an experiment of the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 and a sodium-iodine scintillator, are used. During the experiment environment factors were recorded every 10 minutes and the data logger recorded neutrino count every 30 minutes. The results of the experiment will show how neutrinos coming from the isotope, show how it is decaying and even give us a base of what environmental factors may lead to change in its decay.