- #1
AlwaysCurious
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Homework Statement
A radioactive substance diminishes at a rate proportional to the amount present (since all atoms have equal probability of disintegrating, ...). If A(t) is the amount at time t, this means that A'(t)= p * A(t) for some p representing the probability that an atom will disintegrate in one unit of time.
Find A(t) in terms of the amount A(0) present at time 0.
I have solved the problem, and have checked the solutions manual and am correct. However, this at least seems to me to give the wrong physical result. I am definitely wrong here, and am curious why I am wrong.
Homework Equations
just the one mentioned above, A'(t) = p * A(t).
The Attempt at a Solution
My solution:
Rearranging the equation gives A'(t)/A(t) = log(A(t)) ' = p implies that log(A(t)) = p*t + K for some constant K. Then A(t) = exp(pt + K). To find K, we simply plug in t = 0, and K = log(A(0)), or A(0) = exp(K). Then A(t) = A(0) * exp(pt).
Mathematically, I do not see much wrong with this (except for the case where the initial amount is zero). What I am curious about is the formula itself: if the probability is a positive quantity less than 1 (say, 75%), and A(0) is say, one unit of mass, then the amount of substance seems to increase with time, as the function describing the behavior is exp(0.75t), which gets large as t gets large.
Where am I wrong? I certainly am not a crackpot who has "proved math wrong", so I am assuming that I have made a flaw somewhere (and it probably isn't the formula itself, as this is the one given by the book which I trust fairly well).