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First, it isn't very accurate to talk about a radioactive "element"; you should talk about radioactive isotopes. Different isotopes of the same element can have very different behavior in this sense. For example, hydrogen-1 and hydrogen-2 are stable, while hydrogen-3 is not (half-life about 19 years).
Individual atoms, in a radioactive isotope, will decay at a random moment. The half-life refers to how long it takes for half of the atoms in a given sample to decay (and convert to some other type of isotope).
[Radioactive half life is how long it takes for half the radioactive substance to decay. For example if something takes 100 years to decay, its half life is 50 years ^^]
That is a bit incorrect (it assumes a linear decay). Radioactive isotopes decay exponentially, so they never "completely" finish decaying. Half-life is indeed the time it takes for half of a sample to decay. If we have 100 isotopes and their half life is 1 year, then after 1 year we have 50 isotopes undecayed. After another 1 year, half of that will have decayed, so we have only 25 isotopes left undecayed. After another year, about 12-13 will be left, etc.
The longest known radioactive half-life is for tellurium-128, which has a half-life of around 2.2 septillion years (2.2 x 10^24 years). This means it decays extremely slowly.
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Each of the objects below has a different amounts remaining of the original radioactive material X. Which object is most likely the oldest?
The object with the smallest amount of original radioactive material X remaining is most likely the oldest. Over time, radioactive material decays at a consistent rate, so the object with the least remaining material has been decaying the longest.
How long will it take half of a radioactive sample to decay?
The time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to decay is known as the half-life. Each radioactive element has a unique half-life, which could range from fractions of a second to billions of years. The half-life remains constant regardless of the size of the initial sample.
When radioactive isotopes break down into other elements the process is called?
radioactive decay
How do you determine the half life of a radioactive substance that has changed through radioactive decay After 40 days the original substance left is is one sixteenth of the original amount?
To determine the half-life of the substance, you can use the fact that after one half-life, the substance will be reduced to half of its original amount. In this case, after 40 days, the substance is reduced to one sixteenth of its original amount, which represents 4 half-lives (since 1/2^4 = 1/16). Thus, each half-life of this substance is 10 days.
What is the radioactive form of carbon?
The radioactive form of carbon is carbon-14. It is formed in the atmosphere through interactions between cosmic rays and nitrogen, and it is commonly used in radiocarbon dating to determine the age of organic materials.
Is any isotope of lead is radioactive?
many. one example is lead-214 with a halflife of 26.8 minutes.
What is the time needed for half of a sample of a radioactive isotope to break down to form daughter isotopes called?
halflife
Is it true that the half-life of a radioactive isotope decreases as the isotopes decay?
no, halflife is a constant for each isotope's decay process.
What if your cat is radioactive with the same halflife as carbon 14. how many years will it take for three fourths of your cat to degrade?
my grandma
How do scientists use the halflife of radioactive isotopes to date rocks and fossils?
The basic idea is to compare the abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope within a material to the abundance of its decay products; it is known how fast the radioactive isotope decays.
How would you describe the isotopes of hydrogen?
Hydrogen has three isotopes: protium (1H), deuterium (2H), and tritium (3H). Protium is the most abundant and consists of one proton and one electron. Deuterium contains one proton, one neutron, and one electron. Tritium has one proton, two neutrons, and one electron.
What kind of radioactive waste has the longest half-life?
Uranium has the longest half-life element
What is halflife about?
Half-life is the time it takes for one half of the radioactive material to decay. It is logarithmic, so after two half-lives, one quarter remains - then one eighth - etc.
When was Illadelph Halflife created?
Illadelph Halflife was created on 1996-09-24.
All radioactive nuclides of an element have the same half life?
No, halflife is a bulk statistical property of a quantity of an isotope of an element.Individual nuclei do not have halflives, instead they have a probability of decaying at the current moment of time.
What three deuterium of hydrogen?
Your question makes no sense.ordinary hydrogen has 1 proton and no neutronsdeuterium has 1 proton and 1 neutrontritium has 1 proton and 2 neutrons, it is radioactive with a halflife of about 12 yearsThere are more isotopes of hydrogen with more neutrons, but they are radioactive and have such short halflives that they are nearly undetectable.
What radioactive substance has the longest half-life?
One of the radioactive substances with the longest half-life is thorium-232, with a half-life of about 14 billion years. Another example is uranium-238, which has a half-life of about 4.5 billion years.
