A breeder reactor converts relatively stable uranium-238 into the isotope plutonium-239. After 15 years it is determined that 0.043% of the initial amount Ao of plutonium has disintegrated. Find the half-life* of this isotope if the rate of disintegration is proportional to the amount remaining. *In physics the half-life is a measure of the stability of a radioactive substance. The half-life is simply the time it takes for one-half of the atoms in an initial amount Ao to disintegrate, or transmute, into the atoms of another element.
A breeder reactor converts relatively stable uranium-238 into the isotope plutonium-239. After 15 years it is determined that 0.043% of the initial amount Ao of plutonium has disintegrated. Find the half-life* of this isotope if the rate of disintegration is proportional to the amount remaining. *In physics the half-life is a measure of the stability of a radioactive substance. The half-life is simply the time it takes for one-half of the atoms in an initial amount Ao to disintegrate, or transmute, into the atoms of another element.
Advanced Engineering Mathematics
10th Edition
ISBN:9780470458365
Author:Erwin Kreyszig
Publisher:Erwin Kreyszig
Chapter2: Second-order Linear Odes
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1RQ
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