90 A small building has become accidentally contaminated with radioactivity. The longest-lived material in the building is strontium-90. (Sr has an atomic mass 89.9077 u, and its half-life is 29.1 yr). It is particularly dangerous because it substitutes for calcium in bones. Assume that the building initially contained 5 kg of this substance uniformly distributed throughout the building and that the safe level is defined as less than 10 decays/min (to be small in comparison to background radiation). How long will the building be unsafe? Given: u=1.66x10-27 kg.

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A small building has become accidentally contaminated with
radioactivity. The longest-lived material in the building is strontium-90.
(Sr has an atomic mass 89.9077 u, and its half-life is 29.1 yr). It is
particularly dangerous because it substitutes for calcium in bones.
Assume that the building initially contained 5 kg of this substance
uniformly distributed throughout the building and that the safe level is
defined as less than 10 decays/min (to be small in comparison to
background radiation). How long will the building be unsafe? Given:
u=1.66x10-27 kg.
Transcribed Image Text:A small building has become accidentally contaminated with radioactivity. The longest-lived material in the building is strontium-90. (Sr has an atomic mass 89.9077 u, and its half-life is 29.1 yr). It is particularly dangerous because it substitutes for calcium in bones. Assume that the building initially contained 5 kg of this substance uniformly distributed throughout the building and that the safe level is defined as less than 10 decays/min (to be small in comparison to background radiation). How long will the building be unsafe? Given: u=1.66x10-27 kg.
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