Half-Life Practice

1. What is meant by half-life?

- According to Britannica, half-life in radioactivity is defined as the interval of time required for
one-half of the atomic nuclei of a radioactive sample to decay. It’s meant to determine the
time required for half of a substance introduced or inside the living system to be
eliminated by natural processes. In simpler meaning, the half-life of a radioactive isotope is
the amount of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive isotope to decay. It is constant in
specific radioactive isotopes and, therefore, is unaffected by conditions and is independent
of the initial amount of the isotopes.

2. If you have 100 grams of a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 10 years:

a. How much of the isotope will you have left after 10 years?

𝑚 * 0. 5𝑛 where 𝑛 = ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒

so
𝑛 = 1010 = 1 100𝑔 * 0. 51 = 50𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 10 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

Or

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

𝑁 = 100𝑔( 12 )10/10

𝑁 = 50𝑔 of isotopes left after 10 years

b. How much of the isotope will you have left after 20 years?
 𝑚 * 0. 5𝑛 where 𝑛 = ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒

so
𝑛 = 2010 = 2 100𝑔 * 0. 52 = 25𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 20 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

Or

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

𝑁 = 100𝑔( 12 )20/10

c. How𝑁many= 25half-lives𝑔 of isotopeswill occur left afterin 40 10years? years

𝑚 * 0. 5𝑛 where 𝑛 = ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒−𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒

so
𝑛 = 4010 = 4 100𝑔 * 0. 54 = 6. 25𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

Or

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

𝑁 = 100𝑔( 12 )40/10

𝑁 = 6. 25𝑔 of isotopes left after 10 years

3. The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,300 years. If a nuclear bomb released 8 kg of this

isotope, how many years would pass before the amount is reduced to 1 kg?
 𝑘 = 𝑡𝑙𝑛122 = 024300.6931 = 2. 85𝑒−5

𝑙𝑛( 𝐴𝑓𝐴𝐼 ) = − 𝑘𝑡

𝑙𝑛( 18 𝑘𝑔𝑘𝑔 ) = − 2. 85𝑒−5𝑡

−2.08−5 = 𝑡 −2.85𝑒

𝑡 = 72982. 46 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 would pass before the amount is reduced to 1 kg

Or

kg
8𝑘𝑔 → 4 → 2𝑘𝑔 → 1𝑘𝑔 = 3 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠

Therefore,
3 * 24, 300 = 72, 900 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

4. The half-life of radon-222 is 3.8 days. How much of a 100 gram sample is left after 15.2
days?
 100 𝑔 → 50𝑔→ 25𝑔 → 12. 5 → 𝑔 6. 25𝑔 = 4 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠 4 *

3. 8 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 = 15. 2 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠

So,

𝑘 = 𝑡𝑙𝑛122 = 30.8.6931 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 = 0. 1824

𝐴𝑓 = 𝐴𝑖𝑒−𝑘𝑡

𝐴𝑓 = 100𝑔 * 𝑒−0.1824(15.2) = 6. 251 𝑔 is left after 15.2 days

Or

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

𝑁 = 100𝑔( 12 )15.2/3.8 = 6. 25𝑔 is left after 15.2 days

5. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years. If a sample contained 70 mg originally, how much
is
left after 17,190 years?

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ
𝑁= is left after 15.2 days70𝑚𝑔( 12 )17190/5730 = 8. 75𝑚𝑔

Or

70mg
→ 35𝑚𝑔 → 17. 5𝑚𝑔 → 8. 75𝑚𝑔 = 3 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠

Therefore, at 17,190 years there are 8.75mg of Carbon-14 left

6. The half-life of cobalt-60 is 5.26 years. If 50 grams are left after 15.78 years, how many
grams were in the original sample?

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

50𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )15.78/5.26

50𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )3

50𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜 * 0. 125

𝑁𝑜 = 050.125𝑔 = 400𝑔were in the original sample

Or

400g→ 200𝑚𝑔 → 100𝑔 → 50𝑚𝑔 = 3 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠 (5.26 * 3 = 15.78)

 Therefore, 400 grams were in the original sample

7. The half-life of I-137 is 8.07 days. If 25 grams are left after 40.35 days, how many grams
were in the original sample?

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

25𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )40.35/8.07

25𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )5

25𝑔 = 𝑁𝑜 * 0. 03125

𝑁𝑜 = 0.0312525𝑔 = 801. 28𝑔were in the original sample

Or

(8.07 * 5 = 40.35)
800𝑔 → 400𝑔 → 200𝑔 → 100𝑚𝑔 → 50𝑔 → 25𝑔 = 5 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠

Therefore, 800 grams were in the original sample

8. If 100 grams of Au-198 decays to 6.25 grams in 10.8 days, what is the half-life of Au-198?

100𝑔 → 50𝑔 → 25𝑔 → 12. 5𝑔 → 6. 25𝑔 = 4 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠

10.8 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠
4 Therefore, = 2. 7 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 − 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒

9. Graph the following data on the graph, then use the graph to determine the half-life of this
isotope.

Time (years) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mass Remaining (grams) 100 75 56 42 32 24 18 13 10 8 6

𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜( 12 )𝑡/𝑡ℎ

𝑁 = 100𝑔( 12 )10/2.4

𝑁 = 5. 56 𝑜𝑟 6 to check if the proposed half-life of the isotope is 2.4 years.