Doctors can use radioactive chemicals to treat some forms of cancer. The half life of a certain chemical is 7 days. A patient receives a treatment of 16 millicuries of the chemical.​ (A millicurie is a unit of ​ radioactivity.) How much of the chemical remains in the patient 14 days​ later?

Answer 1

To find out how much of the chemical remains in the patient 14 days later, we need to determine how many half-lives have passed and then calculate the remaining amount.

Since the half-life of the chemical is 7 days, after 7 days, half of the chemical will remain. Thus, after the first half-life, the patient will have 16/2 = <<16/2=8>>8 millicuries left.

After another 7 days (14 days total), another half-life will have passed, leaving half of the previous amount. So, the patient will have 8/2 = <<8/2=4>>4 millicuries left.

Therefore, 4 millicuries of the chemical will remain in the patient 14 days later.