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Fluorine-21 has a half -life of approximately 5 seconds.How much of a 200 gram sample would remain after 1 minute

User Divisadero
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1 Answer

4 votes

Answer:

0.0488 g

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given

The radioisotope Fluorine-21

Half-life is 5 seconds

Initial mass of Fluorine-21 is 200 g

Time = 1 min or 60 seconds

Required to determine the New mass after decay

  • We need to know that half life of a radioisotope is the time taken by a radioactive isotope to decay by half the original amount.
  • To calculate the remaining mass after decay we use the formula,

New mass = Original mass × (1/2)^n , where n is the number of half lives.

In this case, n = 60 s ÷ 5 s

= 12

New mass = 200 g × (1/2)^12

= 200 g × 1/4096

= 0.0488 g

Therefore, the mass of Fluorine-21 remaining after 1 minute is 0.0488 g

User Botptr
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