Kira Azulay

Dr. Heralde
Physics
Science Fair

Experiment Report

Problem
Are capacitors a good model of radioactive half-life?
Hypothesis
The larger value capacitors will have longer half-lives than the smaller value capacitors.
The larger capacitors would also retain more charge than the smaller capacitors in a given
amount of time. The size and value of the capacitor are directly related to the length of the halflife.
Materials

1-Voltmeter
1-6 Volt Battery
1-Interval Timer
4- alligator clips with wires
3- Capacitors
o 1- 47 microfarads
o 2- 1000 microfarads
Procedure

I attached (1) 47 microfarad capacitor to the voltmeter and battery and allowed it to
charge for 1 minute. After the capacitor had 6V of charge, I disconnected the battery, began the
timer, and recorded the amount of charge, in Volts, every 10 seconds until 3min 50sec had
passed. Then I repeated the trial with (1) 1000mf capacitor and then both 1000mf capacitors
connected in series so that they would be 2000mf combined.
Research Background
Half-life is the amount of time for half of a substance to decay. The half-life is individual
to each element. Radioactive half-life comes from the unstable nucleus which emits particles in
order to become stable. There are three types of radioactive decay: alpha, beta, and gamma.
Gamma decay is the most penetrative and can be stopped by a meter of concrete. Gamma
radiation is a photon with neither mass nor charge. Beta decay is second most penetrative and

can be stopped by a piece of tinfoil. Beta decay is the emission of an electron by one of three
ways. A neutron can split into a proton, electron, and antineutrino, which increases the atomic
number without changing the mass. A proton can split into a neutron, electron and
neutrino, which decreases the atomic number but does not change the mass. Beta
decay can also occur via electron capture. Alpha decay is the least penetrative and
can be stopped by a piece of paper. Alpha decay is the emission of a helium
nucleus, two protons and two neutrons. All forms of decay contribute to half-life
and are dangerous ionizing radiation.
A capacitor stores charge and releases it steadily at a consistent rate.
Capacitors release charge like radioactive materials because the amount of charge
released decreases as the total amount of charge decreases. The charge in the
capacitor and the amount of charge released per time interval is directly related,
while the amount of half-lives and amount of charge or material is inversely related.
Observation
During the experiment, the only full half-life I was able to observe belonged to the 47mf
capacitor. The decrease in charge was immediate and showed a half-life of 34.52 seconds. The
other capacitors decreased in charge more slowly, however each interval was very regular and
once the rate stabilized, each decline was predictable. The 2000mf capacitor decreased more
quickly than I had expected and the decrease per interval was almost twice that of the 1000mf
capacitor. By the end of the trials, neither had reached their half-life, but the 2000mf capacitor
was approximately a volt below that of the 1000mf.
Conclusion
I hypothesized that the smallest value capacitor would have the shortest half-life and that
the bigger the capacitor the longer the half-life. The bigger value capacitors would have longer
half-lives and release charge more slowly. While I was correct that the smallest value capacitor
had the shortest half-life and released charge very quickly, the largest value capacitor did not
have the longest half-life. The 1000 mf capacitor had the longest half-life despite being the
middle value that I tested. It released charge the slowest and had the most reliable decrease per
interval. While the results were partially surprising, the 47mf was a spectacular model for
radioactive half-life and the other capacitors showed exponential decay. This experiment shows
capacitors to be accurate models of radioactive half-life.
Sources
Graph-http://www.earth.northwestern.edu/public/seth/demos/DECAY/decay.html