Question

A radioactive sample was counted once and gave 500 counts in 1 min. The corresponding number for the background is 480 counts. Is the sample radioactive or not? What should one report based on this measurement alone?

Answer 1

Here the background rate is 480 counts per minute that means 8 counts per second. So, as the radioactive sample was counted and give 500 counts per minute that means there are 8.33 counts per second. So, as we can take these count as Poisson distribution. So, there can be possibility to have sample count as 8.33 when the real count is 8. It seems feasible, so we cannot definitely say that the sample is radioactive and one should not report based on this measurement alone.