Question

Suppose the half-life of an isotope is 2 days. You purchase 10 grams of the isotope, but it was produced in a laboratory 4 days before it was delivered to you. How much of this isotope will you have 3 days after it was delivered to you?

Answer 1

After 3 days, approximately 2.5 grams of the isotope will remain.

Step-by-step explanation:

The half-life of an isotope is the amount of time it takes for half of the sample to decay. In this case, the half-life is 2 days. Since the isotope was produced in a laboratory 4 days before it was delivered, it has already gone through 2 half-lives. This means that after 3 days, you would have gone through another 1.5 half-lives (3 days / 2 days per half-life).

To calculate the amount of the isotope remaining, you can use the formula: Amount remaining = Initial amount * (1/2)^(number of half-lives). Starting with 10 grams, after 3 days you would have approximately 2.5 grams of the isotope remaining.