Abstract
An experimental study has been made of the interaction of nitrogen nuclei in nuclear emulsions. Particular attention has been paid to the determination of the number of incident nucleons which participate in the interaction. It is found that on average 75% of the nucleons emerging as free particles have interacted and produced pions. This number is close to what would be expected on the assumption that the incident nucleons in the nitrogen nucleus behave independently. The relevance of the measurements to the important case of extensive air showers initiated by heavy nuclei is considered and it is shown that the commonly used superposition model is sufficiently accurate for many applications.

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