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Success Criteria:
I can define half-life and explain its significance in radioactive decay.
I can calculate the remaining amount of a radioactive substance after a given number of half-lives.
I can solve problems involving half-life, including determining the time elapsed based on the remaining quantity of a substance.
I can discuss the practical applications of half-life in fields such as archaeology (e.g., carbon dating) and medicine (e.g., radioactive tracers).
Fun Fact
Some isotopes have very long half-lives! For example, uranium-238 has a half-life of about 4.5 billion years, which means it takes that long for half of a sample of uranium-238 to decay. This characteristic allows scientists to use it for dating the age of rocks and the Earth itself, providing insights into our planet's history!
Key terms
Half-Life: The time required for half of the radioactive nuclei in a sample to decay into another form, which is a measure of the isotope's stability.
Decay Series: A sequence of radioactive decay processes that a particular isotope undergoes, leading from a parent isotope to one or more daughter isotopes, until a stable isotope is formed.
Parent Isotope: The original radioactive isotope that undergoes decay in a decay series.
Daughter Isotope: The product of the decay of a parent isotope; it may also be radioactive and can further decay into additional isotopes.
Exponential Decay: A process where the quantity of a radioactive substance decreases at a rate proportional to its current value, resulting in a rapid initial decline that slows over time.
Radioactive Decay: The spontaneous transformation of an unstable atomic nucleus into a more stable configuration, accompanied by the emission of radiation.
Activity: The rate at which a sample of radioactive material decays, typically measured in disintegrations per second (Becquerel or Curie).
Learning Tasks
Chapter 6.3 Key Knowledge Questions p.172 of Textbook
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