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Purple Baron
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Homework Statement
The isostopc abundances of a sample is U-235 and U-238 are 0.72 and 99.27 respectively; what is the age of the sample? (assume isotope abundance was equal when sample was formed)
Homework Equations
[itex]\lambda=\frac{ln2}{ t_{\frac{1}{2}}}[/itex]
The Attempt at a Solution
for U-238 [itex]N_{238}(T)=N_{238}(t)e^{\lambda _{238}t}[/itex]
U-235 [itex]N_{235}(T)=N_{235}(t)e^{\lambda _{235}t}[/itex]
T is time at present and t is time of sample formation.
diving the two equations gives
[itex] \frac{N_{238}(T)}{N_{235}(T)}=\frac{N_{238}(t)}{N_{235}(t)}e^{(\lambda _{238}- \lambda _{235})t}[/itex]
From the assumption, one can say [itex]\frac{N_{238}(t)}{N_{235}(t)}=1[/itex]
It's here where I'm not sure; do i just say that [itex]\frac{N_{238}(T)}{N_{235}(T)}=\frac{99.27}{0.72}[/itex] and solve for t or am I missing something? Thanks
EDIT: Sorry, I can't get my latex to work, I can't seem to fix it
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