Why are substances with shorter half-lives more radioactive?

Thread starter alara_rc
Start date Dec 16, 2008
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Half-life Radioactivity

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Substances with shorter half-lives are more radioactive because they decay at a faster rate, resulting in a higher rate of radioactive emissions. The half-life is the time required for half of a given sample of radioactive material to decay. For an element with a half-life of one hour, 500 out of 1000 atoms will decay in that hour, while only 250 will decay in the same timeframe for an element with a two-hour half-life. This rapid decay in short-lived isotopes leads to increased radioactivity. Therefore, the shorter the half-life, the more radioactive the substance is.

Dec 16, 2008

alara_rc

1.Explain why if a sample has a very short half-life, then it will be more radioactive than an element that has a longer half-life, any clues anyone?

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Dec 16, 2008

mgb_phys

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What is the half life ?
If you start with a 1000 atoms how many will decay in an hour if the element has a half-life of an hour?
How many if the element has a half life of 2 hours?

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