How long does it take a 200 gram sample of carbon-14 to decay to a mass of 100 grams?

Answer 1

About 5700 years.

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5700 years, and the question is asking how long for 200 grams to become 100 grams. That is half, so the answer is 5700 years.

It will take another 5700 years for the mass to further decay to 50 grams, and another 5700 years to decay to 25 grams.

Answer 2

Half the atoms in a sample of radioactive material will decay in a certain amount of time, and that length of time is called a half life. Here is the same idea: the half life of a radioactive material is the time it takes for half the atoms in a given sample of that radioactive material to decay. As one might guess, the half life of a given material will be different than that for another material. Half lives range from the smallest fractions of a second to hundreds of thousands of years and more. A reminder: no one can predict when a specific unstable nucleus will decay, but working with an appropriately large sample we can come up with some good numbers. It's a statistical consideration, but it has real world application. Example: If we create a radioactive source, we need to know how much material to make it out of so we end up with the desired level of radioactive decay energy. Half life information will factor in. No getting around it. If we need half life information on any given isotope or any element, we can go to a chart or reference table and look it up. Some geeks (really nice people who are wardrobe challenged) have done all the research for us.

Basically, it is a Half-Life. =]

Answer 3

5,730±40 years. That means 40 before to 40 after 5,730 years. (5,690 to 5,770 years.)

Answer 4

1) It does NOT decay into C-12. Carbon-14 decays into Nitrogen-14.

2) The half-life of Carbon-14 is about 5730 years, with an uncertainty of 40 years.

Answer 5

That depends on the material that you are looking at.

Some decay extremely slowly, so slow that 1/2 will still be left after millions of years. And some decay in fractions of a second.

Answer 6

The half-life has a specific value for each isotope.

Answer 7

It's called half-life, and it's not specific to an element, but to an isotope.

Answer 8

About 11380 to 11540 years.

Answer 9

Carbon 14 has a half life of 5730 years

Answer 10

1800 yr