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How long does it take for 1.00 g of palladium 103 to decay to 0.125g if it’s half life is 17.0d

User Sylvix
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

To determine the time it takes for 1.00 g of palladium-103 to decay to 0.125 g with a 17.0-day half-life, we found that it takes 3 half-lives, which is equivalent to 51.0 days.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate how long it takes for 1.00 g of palladium-103 to decay to 0.125 g, given its half-life is 17.0 days, we can use the concept of half-lives. The mass of radioactive material remaining after a certain number of half-lives can be found by the formula:

Mass remaining = Initial mass / (2number of half-lives)

In this case, we want to find the number of half-lives it takes for the mass to go from 1.00 g to 0.125 g.

To find this, we set up the equation:

0.125 g = 1.00 g / (2n)

Solving for n, we find that n = 3, because 1.00 / (23) = 0.125.

This means it takes three half-lives for the mass of palladium-103 to decay to 0.125 g from 1.00 g.

Since the half-life is 17.0 days, we multiply the number of half-lives by the half-life duration:

Time = Number of half-lives × Half-life

= 3 × 17.0 days

= 51.0 days

Therefore, it takes 51.0 days for 1.00 g of palladium-103 to decay to 0.125 g.

User Andy Schweig
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