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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?

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

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Solution

To determine how much of the radioactive isotope will be left after 5 half-lives, we can follow these steps:

  1. Understand the concept of half-life: Each half-life reduces the quantity of the isotope to half of its previous amount.

  2. Initial quantity: Start with 185 grams of the radioactive isotope.

  3. Calculate the remaining quantity after each half-life:

    • After 1 half-life: 1852=92.5 \frac{185}{2} = 92.5 grams
    • After 2 half-lives: 92.52=46.25 \frac{92.5}{2} = 46.25 grams
    • After 3 half-lives: 46.252=23.125 \frac{46.25}{2} = 23.125 grams
    • After 4 half-lives: 23.1252=11.5625 \frac{23.125}{2} = 11.5625 grams
    • After 5 half-lives: 11.56252=5.78125 \frac{11.5625}{2} = 5.78125 grams
  4. Final quantity: After 5 half-lives, 5.78125 grams of the radioactive isotope will be left.

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