As you know, we live in a radioactive environment. The food you eat, the air you breathe, the ground you walk on, the water you drink, and the house you live in all contain radioactive isotopes. This radiation that is constantly present in our environment is called Background Radiation. Consequently, before experimentally measuring any material to determine its level of radioactivity, the existing background radiation must be determined and subtracted from the subsequent readings. For this experiment, the background radiation was calculated to be 180 counts per year.
In this experiment, the decay radiation of one of the isotopes of Molybdenum was measured. The data is summarized on the table below:
| Time ( years ) | Molybdenum |
| 5 | 329.850000000000 |
| 10 | 329.700000000000 |
| 15 | 329.560000000000 |
| 20 | 329.410000000000 |
| 25 | 329.260000000000 |
| 30 | 329.110000000000 |
| 35 | 328.960000000000 |
| 40 | 328.820000000000 |
| 45 | 328.670000000000 |
| 50 | 328.520000000000 |
| 55 | 328.380000000000 |
| 60 | 328.230000000000 |
| 65 | 328.080000000000 |
| 70 | 327.940000000000 |
| 75 | 327.790000000000 |
| 80 | 327.640000000000 |
| 85 | 327.500000000000 |
| 90 | 327.350000000000 |
| 95 | 327.200000000000 |
| 100 | 327.060000000000 |
Determine the initial radiation of the sample.
Determine the half-life of the radioisotope in years.
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