Question

in 8,867 seconds, the number of radioactive nuclei decreases to 1/16 of the number present initially. what is the half-life (in s) of the material? enter an integer.

Answer 1

The half-life of the radioactive material is calculated to be 2217 seconds after it decreases to 1/16th of its initial amount in 8,867 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

In radioactive decay, the half-life (T1/2) is the time required for half of the original radioactive nuclei to decay. If the quantity of radioactive nuclei decreases to 1/16 of its initial amount after 8,867 seconds, we can conclude that four half-lives have occurred because 24 = 16. Dividing the total time by four gives us the half-life of this material.

So the half-life (t1/2) in this case would be:

8867 seconds ÷ 4 = 2216.75 seconds

Since we need to provide an integer answer, we can round this to 2217 seconds for the half-life of the radioactive material.