Carbonoid
May25-04, 07:55 PM
I'm having trouble working out how to calculate the number of unstable nuclei remaining in a sample after 28 hours, the answer is 10 but I have no idea how its done, any help would be greatly appreciated.
"If a sample of radioactive material initially has 3.7 x 10(^7) unstable nuclei, how many would remain after 28 hours if the decay constant is 1.5 x 10(^-4)s(^-1)?"
It suggested to use N = N_0 exp (^-decay constant x t) I converted the 28 hours to seconds giving me 100800, but I don't know what the "exp" is for or does.
"If a sample of radioactive material initially has 3.7 x 10(^7) unstable nuclei, how many would remain after 28 hours if the decay constant is 1.5 x 10(^-4)s(^-1)?"
It suggested to use N = N_0 exp (^-decay constant x t) I converted the 28 hours to seconds giving me 100800, but I don't know what the "exp" is for or does.