Knowee
Questions
Features
Study Tools

Suppose that there was 20 grams of radioactive Carbon in a fossil.  After 3 half-lives, approximately how much would still be radioactive? a40 g b20 g c10 g d5 g e2.5 g

Question

Suppose that there was 20 grams of radioactive Carbon in a fossil.  After 3 half-lives, approximately how much would still be radioactive? a40 g b20 g c10 g d5 g e2.5 g

🧐 Not the exact question you are looking for?Go ask a question

Solution

The half-life of a substance is the time it takes for half of it to decay.

  1. After one half-life, half of the original amount would remain. So, if we start with 20 grams, after one half-life, we would have 20/2 = 10 grams remaining.

  2. After two half-lives, half of the remaining amount would decay. So, we would have 10/2 = 5 grams remaining.

  3. After three half-lives, half of the remaining amount would decay. So, we would have 5/2 = 2.5 grams remaining.

So, the answer is e) 2.5 grams.

This problem has been solved

Similar Questions

A fossil today has 16 g of radioactive Carbon-14.  How many grams would still be radioactive in 17,190 years?  (the half-life of Carbon-14 is 5730 years) a16 b8 c4 d2 e1

A fossil is found that contains 3 g of radioactive Carbon-14 and 45 g of decayed element.  Approximately how many years old is the fossil?  (the half-life of Carbon-14 is 5730 years) a5730 b11460 c17190 d22920 e28650

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 185 grams of a radioactive isotope, how much will be left after 5 half-lives?

Select the correct answer.The amount of a radioactive substance remaining as it decays over time is 𝐴=𝐴0⁢(0.5)𝑡ℎ , where A represents the final amount, 𝐴0 represents the original amount, t represents the number of years, and h represents the half-life of the substance.Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope that has a half-life of 5,730 years. Approximately how many years will it take for carbon-14 to decay to 10 percent of its original amount? A. 16,396 years B. 19,035 years C. 28,650 years D. 8,267 years

What is the half-life of a radioisotope if a 100 g sample becomes 50 g after 20 years?A.10 yearsB.20 yearsC.25 yearsD.50 years

1/3

Upgrade your grade with Knowee

Get personalized homework help. Review tough concepts in more detail, or go deeper into your topic by exploring other relevant questions.