When radioactive decay particles are emitted they have equal probability of deca

Question

When radioactive decay particles are emitted they have equal probability of decaying in any direction. If you have a detector of constant area, you will detect more particles the closer you are to the source. As you move further away, you will count fewer, because you are subtending a smaller solid angle of the source. If you increase the source-to-detector distance by a factor of 2.6, what would be the new count rate? Answer in terms of percentage (%) compared with the count rate before you increase the source-to-detector distance.

___%

Would appreciate any help!! Will rate w/in 24 hrs based on correctness & explanation! Thank you!!

Explanation / Answer

Solid angle substended= area covered/d2

Where , d is distance of detector from source.

Thus count rate is directly proportion to solid angle.

Hence , for constant area, count? 1/d2

Thus increasing distance by factor of 2.6 will decrease the count by factor of 1/2.62=0.14793.

Thus new count will 14.793% of before increasing the distance.

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