Radioactivity and Half-Life

Aim: To help you better understand the meaning of the term half-life. To interpret a graph
of half-life and to carry out simple calculations.

Definition
There are two definitions of half-life.

1. The time taken for the number of radioactive atoms in a substance to drop by half.
2. The time taken for the count rate detected by a Geiger counter to fall by half.

(e.g. A piece of a radioactive metal gave a reading of 200 counts per minute. The half life will
be the time it takes to fall to 100 counts per minute.)

Activity
For the following materials colour the number of radioactive atoms remaining as it decays.

Burkelium

Burkelium starts with 96 radioactive atoms (all). The half life is 30 seconds. Shade the atoms
to show how the radioactive berkelium decays over time. Calculate the number of
radioactive atoms remaining after each half life.

Time 0 = 96 atoms Time 30s = _48__ Time 60s = _24__

atoms atoms

Time 120s = _6_ atoms Time 90s = _12__

atoms
 Liggelium
Liggelium starts with 100 radioactive atoms (all). The half life is 20 seconds. Shade the atoms to
show how the radioactive atom liggellium decays over time. Show how much time has elapsed after
each half life and the number of remaining radioactive atoms.

Time 0sec = 100 atoms Time 20 sec = 50 atoms Time 40 sec = 25 atoms Time 60 sec = decay

Kaneium
Kaneium starts with 80 radioactive atoms. The half life is 3 hours. Shade the atoms to show how the
radioactive atom kaneium decays over time. Show how much time has elapsed after each half life
and the number of remaining radioactive atoms.

Time 0hrs = 80 atoms Time 3hrs = 40 atoms Time 6hrs = 20atoms Time 9hrs = 0 atoms

Cowium
Cowium starts with 88 radioactive atoms. The half life is 20 days. Shade the atoms to show how the
radioactive atom cowium decays over time. Show how much time has elapsed after each half life
and the number of remaining radioactive atoms.

Time 0days = 88 atoms Time 20days = 44 atoms Time 40days = 22 atoms Time 60days = 11 atoms
Plotting radioactive decay and half life.
Plot the points and draw a line of best fit for the following radioactive elements.

1. Macfadium
Time (s) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Count 120 100 60 50 30 25 15 12 7.5
rate

140

120

100

80
Count Rate.

60
d
40

20

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Time (seconds)

The half life of Macfadium is:_20_________________________seconds.

2. Fultonium
Time (s) 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
Count 2000 1900 1000 900 500 400 250 200 125
rate

2000

1500
Count rate

1000

500

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
Time (seconds)
The half life of Fultonium is:__50________________________seconds.

Questions
1. A radioactive material has a count rate of 1600 counts per minute. It has a half life of
20 minutes. How long will it take to decay to a rate of 100 counts per minute.

80

2. Jacobium is a radioactive metal with a half life of 20 years. It contains 128 radioactive
atoms. How many years will it take to decay to 2 radioactive atoms.

120

3. A radioactive material has a count rate of 400 per minute. It has a half life of 40
years. How long will it take to decay to a rate of 25 counts per minute.

160
 4. A radioactive material has a count rate of 800 per minute. It has a half life of 30
seconds. How long will it take to decay to a rate of 25 counts per minute.

150

5. Kirkwoodium is a radioactive metal with a half life of 200 years. It contains 224
radioactive atoms. How many years will it take to decay to 7 radioactive atoms.

My calculator says that there is no solution found