You are using a Geiger counter to measure the activity of a radioactive substance over the course of several minutes. If the reading of 400. counts has diminished to 100. counts after 44.4 minutes, what is the half-life of this substance? Express your answer with the appropriate units.

Chemistry for Engineering Students
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Chapter14: Nuclear Chemistry
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 14.36PAE
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In the parts that follow, use the following abbreviations for time
Measure of time
minutes
hours
days
years
▼
Part A
Part B
You are using a Geiger counter to measure the activity of a radioactive substance over the
course of several minutes. If the reading of 400. counts has diminished to 100. counts after
44.4 minutes, what is the half-life of this substance?
Express your answer with the appropriate units.
Units of time
min
Part C
h
d
yr
An unknown radioactive substance has a half-life of 3.20 hours. If 47.4 g of the substance is
currently present, what mass Ao was present 8.00 hours ago?
Express your answer with the appropriate units.
Part D
Americium-241 is used in some smoke detectors. It is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 432
years. How long will it take in years for 37.0 % of an Am-241 sample to decay?
Express your answer with the appropriate units.
A fossil was analyzed and determined to have a carbon-14 level that is 50 % that of living
organisms. The half-life of C-14 is 5730 years. How old is the fossil?
Express your answer with the appropriate units.
Transcribed Image Text:In the parts that follow, use the following abbreviations for time Measure of time minutes hours days years ▼ Part A Part B You are using a Geiger counter to measure the activity of a radioactive substance over the course of several minutes. If the reading of 400. counts has diminished to 100. counts after 44.4 minutes, what is the half-life of this substance? Express your answer with the appropriate units. Units of time min Part C h d yr An unknown radioactive substance has a half-life of 3.20 hours. If 47.4 g of the substance is currently present, what mass Ao was present 8.00 hours ago? Express your answer with the appropriate units. Part D Americium-241 is used in some smoke detectors. It is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 432 years. How long will it take in years for 37.0 % of an Am-241 sample to decay? Express your answer with the appropriate units. A fossil was analyzed and determined to have a carbon-14 level that is 50 % that of living organisms. The half-life of C-14 is 5730 years. How old is the fossil? Express your answer with the appropriate units.
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