Different radioisotopes (Links to an external site.) have different half-lives (Links to an external site.). For example, the half-life of carbon-14 (Links to an external site.) is 5,700 years, the half-life of uranium-235 (Links to an external site.) is 704 million years, the half-life of potassium-40 (Links to an external site.) is 1.3 billion years, and the half-life of rubidium-87 (Links to an external site.) is 49 billion years. Explain why you would not use an isotope with a half-life similar to that of carbon-14 to determine the age of the Solar System. The age of the universe is estimated to be approximately 14 billion years. Does that mean that no rubidium-87 has decayed? Explain.
Different radioisotopes (Links to an external site.) have different half-lives (Links to an external site.). For example, the half-life of carbon-14 (Links to an external site.) is 5,700 years, the half-life of uranium-235 (Links to an external site.) is 704 million years, the half-life of potassium-40 (Links to an external site.) is 1.3 billion years, and the half-life of rubidium-87 (Links to an external site.) is 49 billion years.
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Explain why you would not use an isotope with a half-life similar to that of carbon-14 to determine the age of the Solar System.
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The age of the universe is estimated to be approximately 14 billion years. Does that mean that no rubidium-87 has decayed? Explain.
1. Half-life of a radioactive element is the time taken by it to decease it's concentration by a factor of 2 or it is the time taken for half of it's nuclei to decay. The age of our solar system is 4.5 billion years.
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