Uses of Nuclear Chemistry (and half life post lab)
Half Life Def: Time it takes for the amount of a radioactive substance to decay by half
Penny Lab Class Data How many nondecayed pennies were left over after 2 half lives? How many nondecayed pennies were left over after 5 half lives?
Example Problem The half-life of Po-218 is three minutes. How much of a 2.0 gram sample remains after 15 minutes?
Another Example Problem The half-life of Ar-42 is eleven minutes. How much of a 5.0 gram sample remains after 55 minutes?
One More Example Problem The half-life of Na-20 is 30 minutes. How much of a 3.0 gram sample remains after 90 minutes?
A Different Type of Problem The half-life of isotope X is 2.0 years. How many years would it take for a 4.0 mg sample of X to decay and have only 0.50 mg of it remain?
One More… The half-life of isotope J is 2.5 months. How many years would it take for a 8.0 g sample of J to decay and have only 0.25 mg of it remain?
Ok, last one…. The half-life of isotope Z is 7.0 years. How many years would it take for a 24.0 mg sample of Z to decay and have only 12.0 mg of it remain?