Half-Life

Half-Life time required for ½ any given mass of radioactive nuclei to decay characteristic for each isotope ranges from fractions of second to billions of years (see Table N) NOT affected by chemical or physical environment of nuclide

Half-Life Map 1 2 3 4 5 1  ½  ¼  1/81/161/32 1 2 3 4 5 1  ½  ¼  1/81/161/32 fraction remaining  multiply by fraction Minitial Mfinal  multiply by denominator or

To find number of half-lives: ____time elapsed__ length of 1 half-life half-life values in Table N