The half-life of uranium-235 is 700,000,000 years. The half-life of uranium-238 is 4.463×10^11

years longer. What is the half-life of uranium-238? The answer should be in decimal form.

1 answer

To find the half-life of uranium-238, we need to add the half-life of uranium-235 to the additional time given.

The half-life of uranium-235 is:

\[ 700,000,000 \text{ years} \]

The additional time for uranium-238 is:

\[ 4.463 \times 10^{11} \text{ years} = 446,300,000,000 \text{ years} \]

Now, we add these two half-lives together:

\[ \text{Half-life of uranium-238} = 700,000,000 + 446,300,000,000 \]

Converting \(700,000,000\) to the same format as \(446,300,000,000\):

\[ 700,000,000 = 0.7 \times 10^9 = 0.7 \times 10^9 = 0.0007 \times 10^{12} \]

Adding the two half-lives in the same exponent format:

\[ \text{Half-life of uranium-238} = 0.0007 \times 10^{12} + 446.3 \times 10^{9} \]

Calculating the first part represented on the same power of 10:

\[ 0.7 \times 10^9 = 0.0007 \times 10^{12} \]

Thus, when converting it to represent both with the exponent \(10^{12}\):

\[ 446301.0 \times 10^{9} \text{ (where the first term has been adjusted)} \]

Adding these values:

\[ 4.463 \times 10^{11} + 0.7 \times 10^{9} = 4.4637 \times 10^{11} \text{ (keeping precision)} \]

So the half-life of uranium-238 is:

\[ \text{Half-life of uranium-238} = 4.468 \times 10^{11} \]

In decimal form, this can be represented as:

\[ 446300000000.0 \text{ years} \]

Thus the half-life of uranium-238 is:

\[ \boxed{4.4683 \times 10^{11}} \]

or simply:

\[ 446300000000 \text{ years} \]