If we mess with this a bit, we can make it simpler: the half-life of Carbon-14 is about 5730 years. Then they measure how much is left in the specimen when they find it. Cosmic rays can't get through the water.Īnyway, they make an estimate of how much Carbon-14 would have been in the thing when it died.
It doesn't work for sea creatures and other things that are under water. Scientists use Carbon-14 to make a guess at how old some things are - things that used to be alive like people, animals, wood and natural cloths. That's why we are called "Carbon-based life forms." Man, I've really watched too much Star Trek.) (By the way, you are mostly Carbon-12, which is not radioactive. It comes from cosmic rays that rain down on the earth (and us) from outer space. Hey, did you know that YOU are radioactive? You've got this stuff in you called Carbon-14. The last figure I heard was that there are currently eight nuclear subs on our ocean floors. Eventually, the salt water will eat through the steel and release the Plutonium (which, as you know, is quite lethal.) They usually talk about either trying to raise the sub or encase it in concrete where it rests. This stuff just won't go away! This is why it is such a big concern when a nuclear submarine sinks.
In another 24,110 years, you'd still have 25 pounds left. In 24,110 years, you'd still have 50 pounds left. "Half-life means that, if you have 100 pounds of Plutonium-239. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,110 years. Hence, the half-life of this particular radioactive substance is 346.5 years.Ever heard of Plutonium? It's the stuff we use in our nuclear things - weapons, submarines, etc. Calculate the half-life of a radioactive substance whose disintegration constant happens to be 0.002 1/years?Īnswer: the quantities available here are,Ĭonsequently, the half life equation becomes: N(t) = N0\(\frac\) Solved Examples on Half Life Formula One can describe exponential decay by any of the three formulas A good example can be that the medical sciences refer to the half-life of drugs in the human body which of biological nature. Also, the half-life can facilitate in characterizing any type of decay whether exponential or non-exponential. Moreover, it could also mean how long atom would survive radioactive decay. half-life, in radioactivity, the interval of time required for one-half of the atomic nuclei of a radioactive sample to decay (change spontaneously into other nuclear species by emitting particles and energy), or, equivalently, the time interval required for the number of disintegrations per second of a radioactive material to decrease by one-half. This concept is quite common in nuclear physics and it describes how quickly atoms would undergo radioactive decay. Furthermore, it refers to the time that a particular quantity requires to reduce its initial value to half. Half-life refers to the amount of time it takes for half of a particular sample to react. Most noteworthy, this shows that the rate of popcorn eating was not at a steady pace and that the half-life of popcorn is of 15 minutes. The rest of the popcorn continues until the rest of the movie. After about 15 minutes, half the popcorn is over. This individual is eating from a tub of popcorn.
#Half life decay movie
One can get an idea about half life by imagining a situation in which an individual watches a movie in a theatre.
Half life is a particular phenomenon that takes place every day in various chemical reactions as well as nuclear reactions.