Answered: The radioactive Polonium-210 decays to…

College Physics

11th Edition

ISBN:9781305952300

Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille

Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille

Chapter1: Units, Trigonometry. And Vectors

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CQ: Estimate the order of magnitude of the length, in meters, of each of the following; (a) a mouse, (b)...

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The radioactive Polonium-210 decays to half its original amount every 139 days. If your sample will not be useful to you after 72% of the radioactive nuclei present on the day the sample arrives had disintegrated, for about how many days after the sample arrives wil you be able to use your polonium sample.

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Step 1

Since Polonium-210 decays to half its original amount in a time of 139 days, the half life of this substance is 139 days.

Any radioactive substance follows the following decay reaction

$N (t) = N_{o} e^{- λ t} N (t) i s t h e n u m b e r o f n u c l e i r e m a i n i n g a f t e r t i m e t N_{o} i s t h e i n i t i a l n u m b e r o f n u c l e i λ i s t h e d e c a y c o n s \tan t$

Decay constant is given in terms of half life as

$λ = \frac{0.693}{t_{1 / 2}}$

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