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How many times longer than the mean life of an extremely unstable atomic nucleus is the lifetime of a human? (Hint: The lifetime of an unstable atomic nucleus is on the order of 10^(-22) s.)

a) Approximately 10^19 times longer
b) Approximately 10^21 times longer
c) Approximately 10^23 times longer
d) Approximately 10^25 times longer

User Maslow
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The lifetime of a human is approximately 10^23 times longer than the mean life of an extremely unstable atomic nucleus, with an average human lifespan being about 2.5 x 10^9 seconds in comparison to the 10^-22 seconds for the unstable nucleus. Therefore, the correct option is c).

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many times longer the lifetime of a human is than the mean life of an extremely unstable atomic nucleus, we first consider the given mean life of an unstable nucleus, which is on the order of 10-22 seconds. The average human lifespan is roughly 80 years, which converts to approximately 2.5 x 109 seconds (considering 80 years x 365 days/year x 24 hours/day x 3600 seconds/hour). To find out how many times longer the human lifespan is compared to the unstable nucleus's mean life, we divide the human lifespan in seconds by the mean life of the nucleus:

2.5 x 109 seconds / 10-22 seconds = 2.5 x 1031

Looking at the answer options provided and choosing the closest order of magnitude, we can conclude that the correct answer is approximately 1023 times longer. Therefore, the correct option is option c: Approximately 1023 times longer. Option c is the answer we will mention in the Final Part of the solution.

User Nickboldt
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