Question

Plutonium-241 is an isotope of plutonium that is highly radioactive and is used in some nuclear reactors and many nuclear weapons. It has a half-life of 14.4 years. If 1000g of Pu-241 is placed in storage at a weapons plant, how much will still be remaining after 28.8 years?

Answer 1

250g

Step-by-step explanation:

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Answer 2

We use the radioactive decay equation for this problem which is expressed as:

An = Aoe^-kt

An is the remaining amount after time t, Ao is the initial amount and k is a constant.

First, we determine the k from the half life as follows:

An/Ao = 1/2 = e^-k(14.4)
k = 0.04814

Then, we can calculate An after 28.8 yr.

An = 1000 e^-0.04814(28.8)
An = 250 g