Question

How do you solve half life decay problems?

Answer 1

ANSWER:

We can solve the half life decay problem by follow the following steps:

1) First of all we should be know about the atomic masses of elements

because some time we have to use atomic mass of element and given number of moles of element to calculate the mass of element in grams.

2) we should carefully collect the data from problem.

3) If mass is not given in standard units then convert the mass in standard unit that is in kilograms.

4) Similarly if time is not given is standard units then convert it in standard unit

that is in seconds.

5) Carefully decide what is given and what is to calculate in the problem.

6) Use the following formula to calculate the required unknown quantity in the problem.

               ㏑(Nt/N0) = -kt

Nt = mass of radioactive material at time interval (t)

N0 = mass of the original amount of radioactive material

k = decay constant

t = time interval (t 1/2 for the half-life)

7) Always keep in mind the concept of half life during solving problem.

I hope it help you.