Radioactive substances follow a specific law of decay. Namely, if you have a sample of some radioactive isotope, the quantity left after a certain time, called the half-life and denoted T1/2, is one-half of what you had initially. If you wait a second half-life, then there will be half of what was left at the end of the first half-life. Since 1/2-1/2 = 1/4, you will have one-fourth of the original quantity left after two half-lives. You can continue with this procedure to find the fraction of the original sample that hasn't decayed after any number of half- lives. However, this would become quite cumbersome if you are interested in the quantity left after, say, 10 half-lives. In this case, the quantity you are looking for would be found by multiplying the original quantity by 10 factors or 1/2. To solve this problem, we use exponents. An exponent, a small number written above and to the right, tells you how many copies of a particular number are multiplied together. In our example, where the original quantity of radioactive isotope must be multiplied by 10 factors of 1/2, you can write the multiplication in a more compact way as 10 (-)¹ Part C Which of the following are equivalent to (1/2)8? Check all that apply. - (-¹) 5 0 □ (²) ² · () ³ · (;)) ³ □ (-)² · (-;-) ³² · () ² Submit Request Answer Part D Complete previous part(s) (-) ² · (-¹)³ = (-¹) ¹¹¹
Radioactive decay
The emission of energy to produce ionizing radiation is known as radioactive decay. Alpha, beta particles, and gamma rays are examples of ionizing radiation that could be released. Radioactive decay happens in radionuclides, which are imbalanced atoms. This periodic table's elements come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Several of these kinds are stable like nitrogen-14, hydrogen-2, and potassium-40, whereas others are not like uranium-238. In nature, one of the most stable phases of an element is usually the most prevalent. Every element, meanwhile, has an unstable state. Unstable variants are radioactive and release ionizing radiation. Certain elements, including uranium, have no stable forms and are constantly radioactive. Radionuclides are elements that release ionizing radiation.
Artificial Radioactivity
The radioactivity can be simply referred to as particle emission from nuclei due to the nuclear instability. There are different types of radiation such as alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Along with these there are different types of decay as well.
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