Final answer:
The half-life of aspirin refers to the amount of time it takes for half of the substance to decay or disappear. After each half-life, the amount of aspirin is reduced by half.
Step-by-step explanation:
The half-life of a substance refers to the amount of time it takes for half of the substance to decay or disappear. In this case, the substance is aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and it has a half-life of h hours. This means that after each half-life, the amount of aspirin is reduced by half.
For example, if you start with 344 mg of aspirin and its half-life is 2 hours:
- After 2 hours, you will have 172 mg of aspirin remaining.
- After another 2 hours (total of 4 hours), you will have 86 mg of aspirin remaining.
- And so on...
Therefore, the amount of aspirin remaining can be calculated by continuously halving the original amount based on the number of half-lives that have passed.