Demonstration of Cobalt Activity


Stage, camera holder, source holder, cobalt-60, Minipix-EDU


  1. Launch the Pixet Basic software and modify settings to the following:
    1. Min Level: 0
    2. Max Level: 50
    3. Measurement Mode: Tracking
    4. Frames: 100
    5. Exposure: 1 s
    6. Sum: uncheck
    7. Color Map: Hot
  2. Mount the MiniPix EDU camera and the holder with cobalt on the stage.
  3. Keep the camera and the source approximately 2 cm away and click on the play button.


  1. We observe a combination of beta and gamma radiation as shown in figure 1.

    Figure 1. The tracks of beta and gamma radiation from Co-60 after 100 seconds of exposure

  2. In rare cases, sometimes the background radiation might result in some alpha particles.


  1. The beta particles, as discussed earlier, have a range of energy from a few keV to hundreds of keV.
  2. The energy of small tracks of gamma particles usually does not exceed 20 keV.

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