Question

1) How old is a bone in which the Carbon-14 in it has undergone 8 half-lives?

Select one:
a. 45600
b. 91200
c. 91200
d. 11400

2) In the process of radiocarbon dating, the fixed period of radioactive decay used to determine age is called the

Select one:
a. exponent.
b. half-life.
c. isotope.
d. nucleus.

3) A certain byproduct in nuclear reactors, 210Po, decays to become 206Pb. After a time period of about 276 days, only about 25% of an original sample of 210Po remains. The remainder has decayed to 206Pb. Determine the approximate half-life of 210Po.

Select one:
a. 138 days
b. 276 days
c. 414 days
d. 552 days

Answer 1

1) How old is a bone in which the Carbon-14 in it has undergone 8 half-lives?

Using the graph form the picture you count 8 times the halving of C¹⁴ and you arrive at 45600 years.

2) In the process of radiocarbon dating, the fixed period of radioactive decay used to determine age is called the half-life.

3) A certain byproduct in nuclear reactors, 210Po, decays to become 206Pb. After a time period of about 276 days, only about 25% of an original sample of 210Po remains. The remainder has decayed to 206Pb. Determine the approximate half-life of 210Po.

What the problem is telling you is that at 276 days only 25% original sample remains. If you divide the number of days by two the quantity of original sample will be multiplied by two, and you will have 138 days and 50% of original sample. This is the answer because the the half-life of a isotope is the time in which 50% of original quantity of radioactive atoms will disintegrate.