Question #188989

A 100 g sample of a radioactive isotope has a half life of 2 days. After 6 days how many grams of the original radioactive isotope are left?


1
Expert's answer
2021-05-04T12:07:42-0400

The formula of decay has form N(t)=N02t/T1/2N(t) = N_0\cdot 2^{-t/T_{1/2}} , where N0N_0 is the initial number of atoms, tt is the time interval and T1/2T_{1/2} is the half-life time.

Therefore, N(t)N0=2t/T1/2\dfrac{N(t)}{N_0} = 2^{-t/T_{1/2}} .

In our case t=6d,  T1/2=2d,t = 6^d, \; T_{1/2} = 2^d, so N(t)N0=26/2=18,\dfrac{N(t)}{N_0} = 2^{-6/2} = \dfrac18, so only one eighth of the initial number of radioactive atoms will be left. Therefore, only 10018=12.5100\cdot\dfrac18 = 12.5 g will be left.


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