How much will be left after 105 days?

You have 816 grams of a radioactive kind of niobium. If its half-life is 35 days, how much will be left after 105 days?

3 Answers
Mar 14, 2018

102g

Explanation:

105/35 = 3

in 105 days, 3 half-lives will have passed.

1 half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to halve in mass.

after 3 half-lives, the mass will have halved 3 times.

after 1 half-life, (1/2)^1 of the original substance is left.

after 3 half-lives, (1/2)^3 of the original substance is left.

(1/2)^3 = 1/(2^3) = 1/8

after 3 half-lives, 1/8 of the original mass of niobium is left.

the original mass given is 816g.

1/8 * 816 = 816/8

=102

(816g)/8 = 102g

after 3 half-lives, 102g of niobium will be left.

Mar 14, 2018

102 grams

Explanation:

The half-life of an isotope is the amount of time it takes for half of the mass of an element to decay.
If the half-life of a radioactive kind of niobium is 35 days, it will decay to (816g)*1/2=408g in 35 days. After 105 days, the period of its half-life will have occurred 105/35=3 times, so it will decay to (816g)*1/2*1/2*1/2=(816g)*(1/2)^3=102g

Mar 14, 2018

Consider that radioactive decay follows first order kinetics. Moreover, assume that the concentration for the purposes of this calculation is mass.

Recall,

ln[A]_"t" = -kt + ln[A]_0, and by extension,

t_(1/2) = ln(2)/k

If t_(1/2) = 35"d", then,

35"d" = ln(2)/k = > k approx 1.98*10^-2"d"^-1

Hence,

[A]_"t" = e^(-kt + ln[A]_0) approx 102"g"

of niobium are left after that time interval.

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