Open AccessSome experiments concerning the counting of scintillations produced by alpha particles.— Part I
Author(s) -
J. Chariton,
C. A. Lea
Publication year - 1929
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1929.0021
Subject(s) - scintillation , radiation , alpha particle , physics , scintillation counter , simplicity , α particles , optics , computational physics , nuclear physics , atomic physics , detector , quantum mechanics
Among the various methods of detecting single a-particles, the scintillation method, because of its simplicity, is often the only one applicable. When the particles are to be counted in the presence of a strong β and γ radiation, the scintillation method is indispensable, for the scintillations produced by α-particles are easily detectable on the luminous background produced by the β and γ rays, while the electrical counter is seriously disturbed by these types of radiation. Though the counting of scintillations has been constantly used as an experimental method since 1908, and practically all the fundamental data on which the modern conception of atomic structure is based, were obtained by this method, very little systematic work has been done concerning the method itself and its limitations.