A scintillator counter takes fifty one-second counts of a steady source

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Scientific Practice & Experimental Methods · Uncertainty in measurement · Uncertainty in measurement

Measurement and Method, Ch Counting experiments: Poisson statistics and the root-n rule

Problem

A scintillator counter takes fifty one-second counts of a steady source. The mean of the fifty counts is

\bar n = 20.5

and their sample standard deviation is

s = 4.3

. ((a)) Compute

\sqrt{\bar n}

and compare it with

s

, and say what the comparison shows about whether the spread is ordinary counting statistics. ((b)) One of the fifty one-second counts is

n = 25

. State this single count with its uncertainty, and give the corresponding rate with its uncertainty.

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