Question

Marine science help!! 15 points!

Cesium is a radioactive element which was released into the ocean after the Fu kushima nuclear power plant meltdown in 2011. Cesium's half-life is 30 years, which means that for every unit of cesium, half of it will decay over 30 years. How does this affect the human populations that eat fish from this area?

A: Cesium's half-life is relatively long, so biomagnification could become a concern.

B: All of the cesium will decay in approximately thirty years; therefore, humans can just avoid eating the contaminated fish for thirty years.

C: Cesium levels will be acceptable in a short time, so biomagnification is not a concern and humans can eat fish as normal.

D: Cesium will only decay by half in fifteen years, so human populations should avoid eating fish in this area and avoid contamination.


I'm stuck between A or D... :/

Answer 1

I believe A, D seems contradictory to the half life of 30 years

Answer 2

A is correct

Step-by-step explanation:

Since the half-life of Cesium is 30 years, that mean that passing this period of time there is going to be the half of mass of this element in ocean. Of course since day 1 until year 30, there will be plenty of generations of the marine living things, so what is going to happen is that this element can be absorb by the algae or plants from the ocean, Cesium is going to fixed in tissues, so when small fish are going to eat, they are going to accumulate Cesium in their tissues (but a bigger concentration than the producer), when another animal eat this small animal is going to repeat the process, in that way biomagnification will be a concern to humankind.