Suppose a laboratory has a 31 g sample of polonium-210. The half-life of polonium-210 is about 138 days. How many half-lives of polonium-210 occur in 966 days? How much polonium is in the sample 966 days later?

Respuesta :

Number of half-lives = how many times 138 days 'goes into' 966 days. [tex] \frac{966}{138} = 7[/tex] so 7 half-lives occur in 966 days.

Every half-life, the substance decays by exactly half of its original mass so we need to halve 31 seven times. [tex] \frac{31}{2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2 \times 2} = \frac{31}{2^7} = 0.242g[/tex]