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Week:- Experiment
Title:- Ramsauer Townsend effect in a Xenon
Thyratron








Module No:- PHYC30300
Student Name:- Oisin Maguire
Student No:- 09464778




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Abstract:- In this experiment the decrease in scattering of an electron in xenon
gas was determined to have a minimum of 1.270.2 electron volt(eV) was
determined and analysed using a 2D21 xenon thyratron. The probability of
scattering (P(s)) and the cross section (o ) was determined as a function of
electron momentum.

Theory:- In this experiment electrons are liberated from the surface of a metal
by thermionic emission at the surface of the metal. This forms a cloud of
electrons with a varying range of kinetic energy around the piece of metal.
These electrons are then accelerated by a voltage that is applied across the
thyratron. If the electrons are scattered by the xenon gas in the thyratron then
they are accelerated towards the shield and this causes a voltage difference
across the shield resistor a voltmeter connected across the resistor records the
voltage drop across the resistor and using ohms law the current through the
shield resistor at that voltage difference across the thyratron can be calculated.
Ohms law is simply

R
V
I
IR V
=
=

This allows the current through the shield to be easily calculated.
If the electrons are not scattered by the xenon gas in the thyratron then they
are collected by the plate. The current through the plate is calculated in the
same way as the shield current as there is another resistor this time it is called
the plate resistor, also a voltmeter across this resistor measure the voltage
drop across this resistor and using ohms law again the current was calculated.
By recording varies shield and plate voltages for multiply voltages across the
thyratron at two very distinct states the first being just the set up with the
xenon gas in the thyratron acting as a normal idea gas would, while the second
state is where the xenon gas is frozen out by using liquid nitrogen. Comparing
the two different states the probability of scattering and the cross section can
be determined.
In the third part of the experiment the anode and cathode are reversed as to
determine the stopping potential needed to stop the thermally liberated
electrons.


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Experimental Setup:-The apparatus was set up as in diagram.

The heater is excluded from this diagram but is located at the cathode end of
the thyratron and is set at 4 volts dc.


Data Analysis:-The plate current with the xenon and the plate current with the
xenon frozen out were plotted against the input voltage across the thyratron.

The probability of an electron not being scattered in xenon gas has a peak
value of about 1.270.2 volts which is given by the red line in the graph above.
When the xenon gas is frozen out the increase in current is directly
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proportional to the input voltage across the thyratron this is given by the linear
increase in the blue line above.
The probability of scattering was ploted as a function against the electrons
momentum.

The diagram above clearly shows a decrease in the probability of the electron
being scattered around 0.80.1 kilogram metre per second.
The probability of scattering is given by the formula below.

l
e s P

=1 ) (
Where l is the lenght of the of the tyrathron which is 0.007 metres and is the
mean free path of the electron.
)) ( 1 ln(
007 . 0
)) ( 1 ln( s P s P
l

=
There is are a few of the mean free paths of the elctron given in the mathcad
part of the appendic.
The mean free path of the electron was also plotted against the electrons
momentum.
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Since the mean free path of an electron is the reciprical of the product of the
density of the medium and the cross section of the electron.

o

o
n
n
1
1
=
=

There are multiply cross sections of the electron given in the mathcad part of
the appendic.
To determine the contact potential of the apperatus and the stopping
potential of a thermally liberated electron the voltage input and voltage output
were reversed as to determine there values. The following graph is an
illustration of the data obtained in doing so.


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The contact potential was determined to be 0.20.02 volts. While the stopping
potential was determined to be 0.450.05 volts. Taking these into account the
following graph was created.


Conclusion:- Electrons do get scattered in a noble gas depending on there
momentum. Error analysis can lead to physically impossable situations as in
the diagram above the green line has parts were there can be negative
scattering which cannot happen.










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Appendices:-
2
1
1
R
V
R
I
R V
I
R
V
I
IR V
=
=
=
=
o
o
o
o

Where V is the voltage, I is the current and R is the resistance.
The propagation of error formula for the current being a function of bout the
resistance and the voltage is given by the equation
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
R
I
V
I
R
I
V
I
VR R V I
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o o
2 2 2 2 2 2
2 ) ( ) (
But since the measurements of the resistance and the voltage are not
correlated the cross over term between the error on voltage and the error on
the resistance is zero.
4
2 2
2
2
4
2 2
2
2
4
2 2
2
2
2
2
2
2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2
)
1
( )
1
(
) ( ) (
R
V
R R
V
I
R
V
R
R
V
R
R
V
R
R
I
V
I
R V
I
R V
I
R V
I
R V I
R V I
o o
o
o o
o
o o
o
o o o
o
o
o
o
o
o o
+ =
+ =
+ =
+ =
+ =

Were represents the error of the respected subscript.
The intensity of the electron beam at the plate is
) 1 (
0 s p
P J J =
Where
p
J is the intensity of the beam at the plate,
0
J is the total intensity of
the beam and
s
P is the probabilty of an electron being scattered at that
energy.
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)) ( 1 ln(
)) ( 1 ln(
) ( 1
1 ) (
1 ) (
s P
l
l
s P
e s P
e s P
e s P
l
l
l

=
=
=
=

The symbols are the same as in the main text.
The Probability of scattering is also given by the equation
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
) ( ) (
) ( ) (
1
p I s I
s I p I
Ps
here p is the plate currentp is the plate current ith enon froen out
s is the shield current and s ) is the shield current with xenon frozen out.
By ignoring the cross over terms in the Propagation of error formula formula
the error on the probability of scattering is given by the formula.
( ) ( )
2
2
2
2
2
2
2 2 2
*
*
* ) (
*
*
* ) (
*
* ) ( )
*
( * ) ( ) (
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|

+
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
c SC
sc C
ip
c SC
sc C
IS
c SC
C
is
c SC
sc
IP d o o o o o

This was obtained by the same way as the previous propagation of error
formula.