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The questions below can be solved using the radioactive exponential decay formula.For the questions below, provide a complete solution with explanation. Make sure to provide an answer with the correct number of significant digits.

1. Lunar rocks: You are dating Moon rocks based on their proportions of uranium-238 (half-life of about 4.468 billion years) and its ultimate decay product, lead. Find the age for a rock for which you determine that 49.7% of the original uranium-238 remains, while the other 50.3% has decayed into lead.

1 Answer

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Answer:

4.4 billion years

Explanation:

The decay of Uranium-238 to lead is a first-order radioactive decay process, and the amount of remaining Uranium-238 after time t can be modeled by the exponential decay formula:N(t) = N0 * e^(-λt)where N0 is the initial amount of Uranium-238, N(t) is the remaining amount after time t, and λ is the decay constant.The half-life of Uranium-238 is 4.468 billion years, which means that the decay constant can be calculated as:λ = ln(2) / t1/2 = ln(2) / (4.468 * 10^9 years) ≈ 1.55125 x 10^-10 years^-1We are given that 49.7% of the original Uranium-238 remains, which means that 50.3% has decayed. Therefore, the ratio of remaining Uranium-238 to original Uranium-238 is:N(t) / N0 = 0.497Taking the natural logarithm of both sides of the equation and solving for t, we get:ln(N(t) / N0) = -λtt = -ln(N(t) / N0) / λPlugging in the given values, we get:t = -ln(0.497) / (1.55125 x 10^-10 years^-1) ≈ 4.40 billion yearsTherefore, the age of the Moon rock is approximately 4.40 billion years. Note that we should round the answer to two significant digits because the given data only has two significant digits. So, the final answer is:t ≈ 4.4 billion years.

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