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A half-life is the time taken for the radioactivity of a material to fall to half its original value. A material can undergo infinite half-lives because each time it falls to half the next half-life falls to half of that half:
No half-lives have elapsed when radioactivity is at the original amount; 1/1.
1 half-life is when radioactivity is at 1/2
2 half-lives is when radioactivity is at 1/4.
3 half-lives is when radioactivity is at 1/8.
4 half-lives is when radioactivity is at 1/16.
And so on.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
The half-life of an isotope is the time it takes for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay. It is a measure of the stability of the isotope and can vary widely among different isotopes. The concept is commonly used in radioactive dating and nuclear physics.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoThe half life of an isotope is defined by the amount of time it takes for half of the parent isotope to decay into its daughter isotope.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agohalf-life is a measure of the rate of decay.
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Can the half life of a radioactive isotope decrease as the isotope decays?
No, the half-life of a radioactive isotope is a constant property of that particular isotope and does not change as it decays. The half-life is defined as the time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay. Once set, the half-life remains constant regardless of how many atoms have decayed.
What is an isotope that the time it takes it to decay to half its original mass?
c.half-life
What is the time needed for half of a radioactive isotope to break down to form daughter isotope?
It's called "half life".
What does the half life tell about a radiosotope?
Its stability. The longer the half-life, the more stable is the isotope.
How are radioactive isotopes used determine the absolute age of igneous rock?
Answer : When the isotopes decay, scientists can find out how old the rock is depending on the radioactive isotope's half-life. Explanation: Radioactive isotopes are unstable and will decay. For example, when humans die carbon-14 decays. The isotopes will decay into a stable isotope over time. Scientists can tell how old the rock was from looking at the radioactive isotope's half-life, which tells them how long it would take for there to be half the radioactive isotope and half the stable isotope. At the next half-life there will be 25% of the radioactive isotope and 75% of the stable isotope. At the next half life there will be 12.5% radioactive and 87.5% stable. Example: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half life of 5,730 years. How old would carbon-14 be when there is 75% carbon-14 in the rock? 75% is half of the time before the half-life, so it would be 2,365 years. Hope this helps. Half life helps scientists find how much the isotope has decayed and the age of the rock.
Can the half life of a radioactive isotope decrease as the isotope decays?
No, the half-life of a radioactive isotope is a constant property of that particular isotope and does not change as it decays. The half-life is defined as the time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay. Once set, the half-life remains constant regardless of how many atoms have decayed.
What is the half life of an isotope?
The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive isotope to decay. The half-life of a specific radioactive isotope is constant; it is unaffected by conditions and is independent of the initial amount of that isotope.
Isotope A has half-life of seconds and isotope B has a half-life of millions of years which isotope is more radioactive?
Isotope A is more radioactive because it has a shorter half-life, indicating a faster rate of decay. A shorter half-life means that more of the isotope will undergo radioactive decay in a given time period compared to an isotope with a longer half-life.
What do isotope and half life have in common?
Each (unstable) isotope has a distinctive half-life.
What is half life of a isotope?
The half life of an isotope refers to the rate at which a radioactive isotope undergoes radioactive decay. Specifically, it is the amount of time it takes for half of a given sample of a radioactive isotope to decay.
How much of an original isotope remains at the end of a second half-life?
At the end of a second half-life, one-fourth (25%) of the original isotope remains. This is because each half-life halves the amount of the isotope present.
What property of a radioactive isotope is the length of time it takes half of the nuclei to decay?
This is called the "half-life" of the isotope.
The half-life of an element is important for?
The half-life of an isotope is how long it takes for half of the atoms in a mass to undergo radioactive decay. Say you have 40g of an elements isotope with a half-life of one year. After 1 year, there would be 20g of that isotope left, and 20g of a different isotope/element. After 2 years, there would be 10g, and so on...
If the half-life of a radioactive substance is 10 hours how long will it take for 50 percent of it to decay?
It would take 10 hours for 50 percent of the radioactive substance to decay because that is the definition of half-life. In this case, after 10 hours, half of the substance will have decayed, leaving 50 percent remaining.
What is the time it takes for half of an isotope's atoms to decay?
The time it takes for half of an isotope's atoms to decay is called the half-life. It is a characteristic property of each isotope and can vary greatly depending on the specific isotope.
What is the half life of the radioactive isotope?
The half life is the period of time it takes radioactive decay to transmute one half of the isotope present at the start of the period to a different isotope, usually an isotope of a different element. This period of time is different for different isotopes, with known isotope half lives ranging from femtoseconds to many billions of years.
What is an isotope that the time it takes it to decay to half its original mass?
c.half-life
