- #1
Sam
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1000 particles of an unknown radioisotope decays to 472.37 particles in 50 days.
(a) What is the half-life of this substance?
Any problems that I had done previously, the half-life was given.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Well, I know a few things, but don't know if they apply to this problem:
The decay constant = .693/T base 1/2
t 1/2 = half-life
Time to decay to a single particle = LN(Nbase0)/decay constant
N = number of particles remaining at some elapsed time
Nbase0 = number of particles we started with
e = a symbol that represents the irrational number 2.718281828...
lambda = decay constant
x = elapsed time
The formula to determing how much of the substance will be remaining at any particular time is: N = Nbase0 e^-lambda x
(a) What is the half-life of this substance?
Any problems that I had done previously, the half-life was given.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Well, I know a few things, but don't know if they apply to this problem:
The decay constant = .693/T base 1/2
t 1/2 = half-life
Time to decay to a single particle = LN(Nbase0)/decay constant
N = number of particles remaining at some elapsed time
Nbase0 = number of particles we started with
e = a symbol that represents the irrational number 2.718281828...
lambda = decay constant
x = elapsed time
The formula to determing how much of the substance will be remaining at any particular time is: N = Nbase0 e^-lambda x