The half-life of a radioactive element is 10 hours. How much will be l...
N = 7.575 × 10
–1 g atoms
∴ No. of atoms = 7.575 × 10
–1 × 6.023 × 10
23 atoms = 4.56 × 10
23 atoms
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The half-life of a radioactive element is 10 hours. How much will be l...
Given:
- Half-life of the radioactive element = 10 hours
- Time elapsed = 4 hours
- Initial sample = 1 g atom
To find:
The amount of the radioactive element left after 4 hours.
Solution:
The half-life of a radioactive element is the time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay. In this case, the half-life is 10 hours, which means that after every 10 hours, the number of atoms in the sample will reduce to half.
Let's calculate the number of half-lives that have occurred in 4 hours:
Number of half-lives = Time elapsed / Half-life = 4 hours / 10 hours = 0.4 half-lives
Calculating the amount left:
Since the half-life is 10 hours, after each half-life, the number of atoms will reduce to half. So, after 0.4 half-lives, the number of atoms left will be:
Number of atoms left = Initial number of atoms * (1/2)^(number of half-lives)
Plugging in the values:
Number of atoms left = 1 g atom * (1/2)^(0.4) ≈ 1 g atom * (0.668) ≈ 0.668 g atom
Converting to scientific notation:
0.668 g atom = 6.68 x 10^(-1) g atom
The answer is given in atoms, so we need to convert grams to atoms. Since 1 g atom represents Avogadro's number (6.022 x 10^23) of atoms, we can multiply the number of grams by Avogadro's number to get the number of atoms:
Number of atoms left = 6.68 x 10^(-1) g atom * (6.022 x 10^23 atoms/g atom) ≈ 4.02 x 10^23 atoms
Answer:
The amount of the radioactive element left after 4 hours in a 1 g atom sample is approximately 4.02 x 10^23 atoms. Therefore, option 'B' is the correct answer.