Plutonium-238 is used in bombs and power plants but is dangerously radioactive. It decays very slowly into radioactive materials. If you started with 300 grams today, a year from now you would still have 297.6 grams.

Construct an exponential function to describe the DECAY of plutonium-238 over time, rounding to three decimal places if necessary.

P(t)=________

1 answer

P(t) = 300*P*e^(-k*t)
t is in years
k = .011398045

1. Diff eq is dP/dt = -k*P
2. General soln is P = P0*e^(-kt)+1
3. Find k by letting P = 297.6 and P0=300
There are a few steps between 1 and 2 here. Well beyond college algebra.