231,833 views
14 votes
14 votes
14. If one half-life is the amount of time it takes for a radioactive isotope to decay by a factor of 2,

approximately which percent describes how much of the initial quantity of a substance would
remain after 2.3 half-lives?

User Luchopintado
by
3.4k points

2 Answers

13 votes
13 votes

Answer:

Since the equation for amount remaining is (1/2)^n, where n stand for the number of half lives, after 2.3 half lives the equation is (1/2)^2.3. This makes the answer about 1/4.92, which converts to about 20% of the original amount.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Shubhank
by
3.2k points
19 votes
19 votes

Since the equation for amount remaining is (1/2)^n, where n stand for the number of half lives, after 2.3 half lives the equation is (1/2)^2.3. This makes the answer about 1/4.92, which converts to about 20% of the original amount.

User Mplungjan
by
3.1k points