An element with mass 730 grams decays by 27.6% per minute. How much of the element is remaining after 12 minutes, to the nearest 10th of a gram?

Answer 1

To find how much of the element is remaining after 12 minutes, we can use the formula for exponential decay:

Remaining amount = Initial amount * (1 - decay rate)^time

Plugging in the given values:
Initial amount = 730 grams
Decay rate = 27.6% = 0.276
Time = 12 minutes

Remaining amount = 730 * (1 - 0.276)^12
Remaining amount = 730 * (0.724)^12
Remaining amount ≈ 730 * 0.028
Remaining amount ≈ 20.44 grams

Therefore, after 12 minutes, approximately 20.4 grams of the element is remaining.