Asked by Anonymous
Suppose 32000 radioactive nuclei are in a sample. About how many remain after two days if the half-life is 22 hrs? What is the initial activity of the sample in decays per minute?
Answers
Answered by
drwls
Two days is 48 hours or 2.18 half-lives. The original number of radioactive nuclei, 2 days earlier, is higher by a factor 2^2.18 = 4.53, so there were N0 = 145,000 radioactive nuclei then.
There is a formula that relates activity per molecule (k) to half life (T). It is k = ln2/T = 0.693/T
T = 22 hours = 1320 min
The initial activity is
A = N0*k = (145,000)(0.693)/1320
= 76 decays/min
There is a formula that relates activity per molecule (k) to half life (T). It is k = ln2/T = 0.693/T
T = 22 hours = 1320 min
The initial activity is
A = N0*k = (145,000)(0.693)/1320
= 76 decays/min
There are no AI answers yet. The ability to request AI answers is coming soon!
Submit Your Answer
We prioritize human answers over AI answers.
If you are human, and you can answer this question, please submit your answer.