College Physics › Nuclear Physics
Radiocarbon dating is a method that allows scientists to estimate the age of organisms after they have died. A fairly constant amount of radioactive remains in the animal while alive, but once it dies the
degrades over time into
. By measuring the relative amount of these two in a dead organism compared to a living one, along with knowing that the half-life of
is
years, it can be determined how long ago the organism died.
If a scientist finds that a fossil contains amount of the
normally found in the atmosphere at that time, approximately how old is this fossil?
Radiocarbon dating is a method that allows scientists to estimate the age of organisms after they have died. A fairly constant amount of radioactive remains in the animal while alive, but once it dies the
degrades over time into
. By measuring the relative amount of these two in a dead organism compared to a living one, along with knowing that the half-life of
is
years, it can be determined how long ago the organism died.
If a scientist finds that a fossil contains amount of the
normally found in the atmosphere at that time, approximately how old is this fossil?
Suppose that of a radioactive drug is injected into a patient. After
minutes pass by, another
is injected. After another
minutes pass by, how much of the drug is expected to be in the patient's body?
Note: The half-life of the drug is minutes.
Suppose that of a radioactive drug is injected into a patient. After
minutes pass by, another
is injected. After another
minutes pass by, how much of the drug is expected to be in the patient's body?
Note: The half-life of the drug is minutes.
Iodine-131 has a half life of 8.02 days and undergoes beta decay.
If a sample of iodine-131 is left out for 1 week (7 days), how much of the sample will still be iodine-131? What will Iodine - 131 decay into?
Iodine-131 has a half life of 8.02 days and undergoes beta decay.
If a sample of iodine-131 is left out for 1 week (7 days), how much of the sample will still be iodine-131? What will Iodine - 131 decay into?