The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the time it takes for a quantity of the isotope to be reduced to half its initial mass. Starting with 180 grams of a radioactive isotope, how much will be left after 3 half-lives?
Question
The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the time it takes for a quantity of the isotope to be reduced to half its initial mass. Starting with 180 grams of a radioactive isotope, how much will be left after 3 half-lives?
Solution
To solve this problem, we need to understand that with each half-life, the quantity of the isotope is halved.
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After the first half-life, the quantity will be reduced to half of 180 grams, which is 90 grams.
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After the second half-life, the quantity will be halved again, leaving 45 grams.
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After the third half-life, the quantity will be halved once more, leaving 22.5 grams.
So, after 3 half-lives, there will be 22.5 grams of the radioactive isotope left.
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