Melting of Ice Block as an Alternative Method of Radioactivity Demonstration

This work is aimed at looking for an alternative, non-hazardous, highly sustainable and economically cheap substance that could be used such that its rate of decrement is analogous to radioactive decay as a substitute for practical demonstration of radioactivity and deduction of the associated constants. The ice block was used in place of radioactive substance. It was placed in a netlike wire mesh with hanger constructed for that purpose hung on a spring balance calibrated to read zero before the placement of the ice block. The reading of the initial weight of the ice block was taken and recorded while timing of its melting was carried out separately at intervals of ۱۰ minutes and ۱۵ minutes. The weight of the ice block left was recorded and the data analyzed. It was observed, in each case, that the weight – time relationships had exponential decay characteristic analogous to the radioactive decay in accordance with the empirical formula governing radioactivity, irrespective of the interval of timing adopted. Deduction of melting constant analogous to radioactive decay constant, as well as half-life of the block used was achievable with this method. It could be concluded that ice block is an auspicious non-radioactive substance that could be employed as a substitute for experimental/practical demonstration for making teaching and learning of radioactivity concept or topic learner-centered. for a better appreciation and comprehension. Ice block is a very good substitute for radioactive substance for the purpose of practical/experimental demonstration of radioactivity.

Keywords:

exponential decay , Half-life , Learner-centered , Melting constant , Radioactive substance