Ilija Arsenić, Miodrag Krmar, Branka Radulović, Pavel Semchukov, Gennady Yarygin and Nikita Sidorov
{"title":"An inexpensive way to introduce students to gamma spectroscopy","authors":"Ilija Arsenić, Miodrag Krmar, Branka Radulović, Pavel Semchukov, Gennady Yarygin and Nikita Sidorov","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad74b9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents two ways to introduce the student to some basic experimental concepts of gamma spectroscopy, without the use of expensive professional measurement equipment. For one, the complete experiment was simulated through several computer programs. Using this simulation, students are tasked with performing all the operations that must be performed in a real experimental setup, to obtain the spectrum of gamma radiation, as the expected result. For the second approach, equipment has been designed that looks and functions like real experimental equipment, and students can use it to perform completely identical procedures in the measurement process as with the real one. The central part of each component of a system designed in this way is a programmable microcontroller, set to perform a function analogous to that of the actual components. By working in these two ways, with a virtual experiment or a setup designed to fully imitate real measurement equipment, students can be introduced to the field of gamma spectroscopy and acquire a routine that can be repeated in real experiments. The main advantage of these two described methods is that they only require small investments.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad74b9","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper presents two ways to introduce the student to some basic experimental concepts of gamma spectroscopy, without the use of expensive professional measurement equipment. For one, the complete experiment was simulated through several computer programs. Using this simulation, students are tasked with performing all the operations that must be performed in a real experimental setup, to obtain the spectrum of gamma radiation, as the expected result. For the second approach, equipment has been designed that looks and functions like real experimental equipment, and students can use it to perform completely identical procedures in the measurement process as with the real one. The central part of each component of a system designed in this way is a programmable microcontroller, set to perform a function analogous to that of the actual components. By working in these two ways, with a virtual experiment or a setup designed to fully imitate real measurement equipment, students can be introduced to the field of gamma spectroscopy and acquire a routine that can be repeated in real experiments. The main advantage of these two described methods is that they only require small investments.
期刊介绍:
European Journal of Physics is a journal of the European Physical Society and its primary mission is to assist in maintaining and improving the standard of taught physics in universities and other institutes of higher education.
Authors submitting articles must indicate the usefulness of their material to physics education and make clear the level of readership (undergraduate or graduate) for which the article is intended. Submissions that omit this information or which, in the publisher''s opinion, do not contribute to the above mission will not be considered for publication.
To this end, we welcome articles that provide original insights and aim to enhance learning in one or more areas of physics. They should normally include at least one of the following:
Explanations of how contemporary research can inform the understanding of physics at university level: for example, a survey of a research field at a level accessible to students, explaining how it illustrates some general principles.
Original insights into the derivation of results. These should be of some general interest, consisting of more than corrections to textbooks.
Descriptions of novel laboratory exercises illustrating new techniques of general interest. Those based on relatively inexpensive equipment are especially welcome.
Articles of a scholarly or reflective nature that are aimed to be of interest to, and at a level appropriate for, physics students or recent graduates.
Descriptions of successful and original student projects, experimental, theoretical or computational.
Discussions of the history, philosophy and epistemology of physics, at a level accessible to physics students and teachers.
Reports of new developments in physics curricula and the techniques for teaching physics.
Physics Education Research reports: articles that provide original experimental and/or theoretical research contributions that directly relate to the teaching and learning of university-level physics.