HalfLife Problems

1. A hospital prepares a 100mg supply of technetium99m which has a halflife of 6

hours.
a. What is the decay factor?
b. What is the length of a halflife?
c. Write an equation to represent this problem.
d. Find the amount of technetium99m that remains after 75 hours

2. Arsenic74 is used to locate brain tumors. It has a halflife of 17.5 days.

a. What is the decay factor?
b. What is the length of a halflife?
c. Write an equation to represent this problem.
d. Find the amount remaining after 6 days from a 90mg sample.

3. Phosphorus32 is used to study a plants use of fertilizer. It has a halflife of 14.3

days. Write the exponential decay function for a 50 mg sample. Find the amount
of phosphorus32 remaining after 84 days.

4. Iodine131 is used to find leaks in water pipes. It has a halflife of 8.14 days. Write
the exponential decay function for a 200mg sample. Find the amount of Iodine
131 remaining after 72 days.

5. Carbon14 is used to determine the age of artifacts in carbon dating. It has a half
life of 5730 years. Write the function for a 24 mg sample. Find the amount
remaining after 30 millennia (1 millennium = 1,000 years)
6. Hg197 is used in kidney scans. It has a halflife of 64.128 h. Write the exponential
decay function for a 12mg sample. Find the amount remaining after 72 hours.

7. Sr85 is used in bone scans. It has a halflife of 64.9 days. Write the exponential
decay function for an 8mg sample. Find the amount remaining after 100 days.

8. I-123 is used in thyroid scans. It has a halflife of 13.2 h. Write the exponential
decay function for a 45mg sample. Find the amount remaining after 5 hours

Review
9. How long will it take $30,000 to accumulate to $110,000 in a trust that earns a
10% annual return compounded continuously?

10.
How long will it take $10,000 to triple in a bank account with an annual
interest rate of 8.45% compounded continuously?
11.
How long does it take to double $1000 at an annual interest rate of 6.35%
compounded continuously?

12.
If you invest $20,000 at 6% annual interest compounded continuously for
100 years, how much will your family have accumulated in that time?

13.
If a $500 certificate of deposit earns 4.25 % compounded continuously then
how much will be accumulated at the end of a 3 year period?
14.
An investment of $10,000 grows to$15,488.33 in 5 years. Find the interest
rate?