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Physics question about half life / radioactive decay
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[QUOTE="RPinPA, post: 6113335, member: 651116"] No. Suppose you had 5 radioactive atoms. Now 3 of them decay, so you have 2 radioactive and 3 daughters. Are you saying for some reason that you expect even after 3 of them decay, there are still more original than daughters? Why? Now suppose all 5 of the original atoms decay. 0 original atoms left. 5 daughters. Are you saying that you STILL think you have more original than daughters? Why? As the radioactive atom decays, their mass decreases. The mass of daughters increases. Sooner or later the second one is bigger than the first one. So it appears the assumption is that the 0.9375 g of daughter came from 0.9375 g of unstable atom. The mass lost was negligible. If you saw 2 unstable atoms and 3 of the stable decay product and wanted to know how many unstable atoms you started with, you would say "these 3 daughter atoms came from 3 unstable atoms. So I started with 3 more than I have now. There were 5." You see 0.9375 g of daughter. You assume that came from 0.9375 g of unstable atom that decayed. So there was originally 0.9375 g more than there is now. [/QUOTE]
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Physics question about half life / radioactive decay
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