| Abstract: | Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss the specific problems dealing with the use of Americium 241 for measuring the water content of soil sample by attenuation of low energy gamma rays. One of the advantages is that the optimum thickness of the soil sample is about 4 to 5 cm. However, one of the difficulties encountered is related to the determination of the absorption coefficient, which is generally lower than the theoretical value. Special attention is drawn to the problems of counting losses in the gamma spectrometer system. Experimental results are presented showing the importance of the system geometry. |
