Please show your solution on paper using the formulas in the picture. Thank you so much! Question: The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is the most recent catastrophic nuclear disaster in memory which was brought about by the massive tsunami that was triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Tohoku region in Japan last 2011. One of the radioactive substances released during the incident is cesium-137 which has a half-life of 30 years. Around 15,000 terabecquerels (becquerel is a standard unit of radioactivity named after Henri Becquerel) of Cs-137 was released during the disaster. How many becquerels of this radioactive substance remains to this day?

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Please show your solution on paper using the formulas in the picture. Thank you so much!

Question: The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is the most recent catastrophic nuclear disaster in memory which was brought about by the massive tsunami that was triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Tohoku region in Japan last 2011. One of the radioactive substances released during the incident is cesium-137 which has a half-life of 30 years. Around 15,000 terabecquerels (becquerel is a standard unit of radioactivity named after Henri Becquerel) of Cs-137 was released during the disaster. How many becquerels of this radioactive substance remains to this day?

The rate of radioactive decay follows first-order kinetics where the rate of decay is
proportional to the number of radioactive nuclei (N) in the sample as expressed in Equation 6.1
where k is called the nuclear decay constant.
Rate = kN (Equation 6.1)
Equation 6.1 can be transformed into Equation 6.2 where No is the initial number of nuclei at initial
time, time =0, and N, is the number of nuclei after time a certain time interval, t.
Nt
In =
No
-kt (Equation 6.2)
A more useful way of determining the rate of radioactive decay is by determining the half-
life of a radioisotope. Half-life (t₁/2) is the time required for half of any given quantity of radioactive
substance to decay. Each radioisotope has a characteristic half-life. For example, cobalt-60
which is used for cancer radiation therapy has a half-life of 5.3 years. So for a 1.00 g sample of
cobalt-60 it will take 5.3 years before its amount is reduced to 0.500 g and 10.6 yrs to 0.250g and
so on and so forth. Equation 6.3 gives the general equation for the half-life of any radioactive
substance while Equation 6.4 is the general formula in calculating the amount of remaining
substance after n half-lives.
t1/2 = (Equation 6.3)
0.693
k
Nt= (1/2) No (Equation 6.4)
Transcribed Image Text:The rate of radioactive decay follows first-order kinetics where the rate of decay is proportional to the number of radioactive nuclei (N) in the sample as expressed in Equation 6.1 where k is called the nuclear decay constant. Rate = kN (Equation 6.1) Equation 6.1 can be transformed into Equation 6.2 where No is the initial number of nuclei at initial time, time =0, and N, is the number of nuclei after time a certain time interval, t. Nt In = No -kt (Equation 6.2) A more useful way of determining the rate of radioactive decay is by determining the half- life of a radioisotope. Half-life (t₁/2) is the time required for half of any given quantity of radioactive substance to decay. Each radioisotope has a characteristic half-life. For example, cobalt-60 which is used for cancer radiation therapy has a half-life of 5.3 years. So for a 1.00 g sample of cobalt-60 it will take 5.3 years before its amount is reduced to 0.500 g and 10.6 yrs to 0.250g and so on and so forth. Equation 6.3 gives the general equation for the half-life of any radioactive substance while Equation 6.4 is the general formula in calculating the amount of remaining substance after n half-lives. t1/2 = (Equation 6.3) 0.693 k Nt= (1/2) No (Equation 6.4)
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