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Carbon-14 has a half-life of 10 years. If 10 years passed for 100g, what is the amount of carbon-14 left?

a) 10g
b) 50g
c) 100g
d) 40g

User Regilero
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1 Answer

3 votes

Final answer:

After 10 years, which equals one half-life of carbon-14 with a given half-life of 10 years, half of the original 100g would have decayed, leaving 50g of carbon-14. Option B is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question about the amount of carbon-14 left after 10 years with a half-life of 10 years is related to the concepts of radioactive decay and half-life in chemistry.

The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the time it takes for half of the sample to decay. As per the given information, if the half-life of carbon-14 is 10 years, after the passage of one half-life (10 years), half of the original 100g amount would have decayed. Thus, after 10 years, 50g of carbon-14 would remain.

The half-life of carbon-14 is 10 years. If 10 years have passed for 100g, we need to determine the amount of carbon-14 left. Since carbon-14 has a half-life of 10 years, half of the original amount would remain after 10 years. Therefore, the amount of carbon-14 left would be 50g.

User JosefAssad
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