Presentation Type
Poster
Full Name of Faculty Mentor
George Hitt and Monica Gray, Physics and Engineering Science
Major
Engineering Science
Presentation Abstract
The half-life of a radioactive isotope can be defined as the amount of time that it takes for said isotope to decay to half of its original value. Radioactive isotopes have a set half-life, this helps scientists create more precise measurements and predictions during experiments because of the set timeline for each specific isotope. The half-life of Thallium-204 is recorded in the experiments to create a random number generator based off of the small spread of decay amounts during different time segments. During the experiments, a Geiger–Müller detector was used to record the half-life of Thallium-204. While doing such experiments, Dr. Ephraim Fischbach found that during the summer, when the Earth is further from the Sun, the half-life of Thallium-204 is slower than during the winter. After observing the results, Dr. Ephraim Fischbach concluded that because the Earth is closer to the Sun during the winter that the Earth is receiving more neutrinos that the Sun is emitting. Dr. Ephraim Fischbach then concluded that because there are extra neutrinos entering the atmosphere in the winter, that the neutrinos were interacting with the radioactive material and causing particles to deflect which changes the data recordings made by the Geiger–Müller detector. After reviewing and replicating Dr. Ephraim Fischbach's experiments, we found that there might be a different variable that could explain the possible discrepancies in Dr. Fischbach's results. During our experiments, a temperature variable was found to slightly change the results collected from the Geiger–Müller detector. After applying an exponential curve to account for the temperature changes, the results seem to follow the natural laws of physics and do not seem to indicate any new findings in fundamental phyiscs.
Location
Virtual Poster Session 1
Start Date
21-4-2021 12:00 PM
End Date
21-4-2021 2:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Eggleston, Alex, "New Findings in Fundamental Physics or Discrepant Measurements?" (2021). Undergraduate Research Competition. 89.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/ugrc/2021/fullconference/89
New Findings in Fundamental Physics or Discrepant Measurements?
Virtual Poster Session 1
The half-life of a radioactive isotope can be defined as the amount of time that it takes for said isotope to decay to half of its original value. Radioactive isotopes have a set half-life, this helps scientists create more precise measurements and predictions during experiments because of the set timeline for each specific isotope. The half-life of Thallium-204 is recorded in the experiments to create a random number generator based off of the small spread of decay amounts during different time segments. During the experiments, a Geiger–Müller detector was used to record the half-life of Thallium-204. While doing such experiments, Dr. Ephraim Fischbach found that during the summer, when the Earth is further from the Sun, the half-life of Thallium-204 is slower than during the winter. After observing the results, Dr. Ephraim Fischbach concluded that because the Earth is closer to the Sun during the winter that the Earth is receiving more neutrinos that the Sun is emitting. Dr. Ephraim Fischbach then concluded that because there are extra neutrinos entering the atmosphere in the winter, that the neutrinos were interacting with the radioactive material and causing particles to deflect which changes the data recordings made by the Geiger–Müller detector. After reviewing and replicating Dr. Ephraim Fischbach's experiments, we found that there might be a different variable that could explain the possible discrepancies in Dr. Fischbach's results. During our experiments, a temperature variable was found to slightly change the results collected from the Geiger–Müller detector. After applying an exponential curve to account for the temperature changes, the results seem to follow the natural laws of physics and do not seem to indicate any new findings in fundamental phyiscs.