Abstract
PREVIOUS experiments1,2 with aliphatic hydrocarbons have shown little dependence of product yields on the type or incident radiation over the range of linear energy transfer (LET) used, although substantial variations have been reported for aromatic3,4 and unsaturated5 substances. We have irradiated carefully dried and degassed cyclohexane (Phillips Research Grade) with 1.5-MeV α-particles from a Van de Graaff generator at currents of 0.01–0.1 µamp to doses of 2–6 × 1019 eV g−1, using a method already described3,5. Although G(H2) varied only slightly from the value accepted for lightly ionizing radiation, G(cyclohexene) and G(bicyclohexyl) were considerably lower, as the following figures show. Irradiations to the same total dose with γ-radiation (dose rate 2–7 × 1017 eV g−1 min−1) and with fast electrons from the Wantage Research Laboratory linear accelerator (dose-rate ∼ 1021 eV g−1 min−1, comparable with those in the irradiated zone in the α-particle irradiations) gave essentially the same G values for these products.
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BURNS, W., PARRY, J. A Linear Energy Transfer Effect in the Radiolysis of Cyclohexane. Nature 201, 814 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/201814a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/201814a0
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