The Study of Acid Rain in Central Alabama: The Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) technique was utilized to identify trace elements and their concentrations in acid rain samples collected in Montgomery, Alabama. The method consisted of bombarding concentrated rain samples with 2 MeV energetic proton beam produced by the Auburn University accelerator. A solid-state detector detected the characteristic x-rays emitted by the excited atoms of the target. A pulse-height analyzer was used to count the x-rays and create an energy spectrum. Trace elements were identified using Yttrium as the non-interfering internal standard within the target. By measuring the calibration curve of the detector, the counts from x-ray peaks extracted from the energy spectrum was used to calculate the concentrations of the elements.
