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Can the half life of a radioactive isotope decrease as the isotope decays?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
No, the half-life of a radioactive isotope does not decrease as the isotope decays. That half-life remains constant. It's the amount of the substance that decreases as the isotope decays.
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoIt is false. The half-life of a radioactive isotope is constant.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agofalse, half life of a given isotope is a constant.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoNo--though if you have an element composed of several isotopes, the half-life of the remaining material will increase as the proportion of short-lived isotopes decreases
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How are radioactive isotopes used determine the absolute age of igneous rock?
Answer : When the isotopes decay, scientists can find out how old the rock is depending on the radioactive isotope's half-life. Explanation: Radioactive isotopes are unstable and will decay. For example, when humans die carbon-14 decays. The isotopes will decay into a stable isotope over time. Scientists can tell how old the rock was from looking at the radioactive isotope's half-life, which tells them how long it would take for there to be half the radioactive isotope and half the stable isotope. At the next half-life there will be 25% of the radioactive isotope and 75% of the stable isotope. At the next half life there will be 12.5% radioactive and 87.5% stable. Example: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half life of 5,730 years. How old would carbon-14 be when there is 75% carbon-14 in the rock? 75% is half of the time before the half-life, so it would be 2,365 years. Hope this helps. Half life helps scientists find how much the isotope has decayed and the age of the rock.
When a radioactive tracer is used why is it best to use a radioactive isotope that decays into a stable isotope?
The principle behind the use of radioactive tracers is that an atom in a chemical compound is replaced by another atom, of the same chemical element. The substituting atom, however, is a radioactive isotope. This process is often called radioactive labeling.
What is the similarity of radioactive isotope and radioactive dating?
Radioactive isotopes are used for radioactive dating. For example, you would use radioactive isotope Carbon-14 to date anything under 70,000 years that was once living. Radioactive isotopes decay from their parent isotope to daughter isotope at a constant rate (under any circumstances). The rate at which a parent isotope decays to its daughter isotope is considered one half life. Carbon-14 has a half life of 5730 years and its daughter isotope is Nitrogen-14. In order to determine how old something is you have to find out how much of the parent isotope is present in relation to the daughter.
What is the percentage of radioactive nuclei left after 3 half lives have passed?
12.5%
What is half of a radioactive isotope?
Half of a radioactive isotope is an atom that would have half of the atomic number of the radioactive isotope. In the case of radium-88 (88Ra), half of the radioactive isotope would be ruthenium-44 (44Ru). This assumes that the protons do not break down and that none are lost to additional reactions with other elements or compounds. Electrons can be lost along the radioactive chain, resulting in an ion of ruthenium rather than an electrically neutral atom.
What is the sample of the radioactive isotope 131I decays its half-life?
Iodine-131 has a half-life of about 8 days.
In a time equal to two half-lives of a radioactive isotope would you expect all of that isotope to have decayed?
No. In two half-lives, a radioactive isotope will decay to one quarter of its original mass. In one half-life, one half of the mass decays. In the next half-life, one half of the remaining mass decays, and so on and so forth. At each half-life point, you would see 0.5, 0.25, 0.125, 0.0625, etc. remaining. The logarithmic equation is... AT = A0 2(-T/H)
What is the half life of an isotope?
The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive isotope to decay. The half-life of a specific radioactive isotope is constant; it is unaffected by conditions and is independent of the initial amount of that isotope.
How are radioactive isotopes used to determine the absolute age of igneous rock.?
Answer : When the isotopes decay, scientists can find out how old the rock is depending on the radioactive isotope's half-life. Explanation: Radioactive isotopes are unstable and will decay. For example, when humans die carbon-14 decays. The isotopes will decay into a stable isotope over time. Scientists can tell how old the rock was from looking at the radioactive isotope's half-life, which tells them how long it would take for there to be half the radioactive isotope and half the stable isotope. At the next half-life there will be 25% of the radioactive isotope and 75% of the stable isotope. At the next half life there will be 12.5% radioactive and 87.5% stable. Example: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half life of 5,730 years. How old would carbon-14 be when there is 75% carbon-14 in the rock? 75% is half of the time before the half-life, so it would be 2,365 years. Hope this helps. Half life helps scientists find how much the isotope has decayed and the age of the rock.
How are radioactive isotopes used determine the absolute age of igneous rock?
Answer : When the isotopes decay, scientists can find out how old the rock is depending on the radioactive isotope's half-life. Explanation: Radioactive isotopes are unstable and will decay. For example, when humans die carbon-14 decays. The isotopes will decay into a stable isotope over time. Scientists can tell how old the rock was from looking at the radioactive isotope's half-life, which tells them how long it would take for there to be half the radioactive isotope and half the stable isotope. At the next half-life there will be 25% of the radioactive isotope and 75% of the stable isotope. At the next half life there will be 12.5% radioactive and 87.5% stable. Example: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope with a half life of 5,730 years. How old would carbon-14 be when there is 75% carbon-14 in the rock? 75% is half of the time before the half-life, so it would be 2,365 years. Hope this helps. Half life helps scientists find how much the isotope has decayed and the age of the rock.
What is half life of a isotope?
The half life of an isotope refers to the rate at which a radioactive isotope undergoes radioactive decay. Specifically, it is the amount of time it takes for half of a given sample of a radioactive isotope to decay.
When a radioactive tracer is used why is it best to use a radioactive isotope that decays into a stable isotope?
The principle behind the use of radioactive tracers is that an atom in a chemical compound is replaced by another atom, of the same chemical element. The substituting atom, however, is a radioactive isotope. This process is often called radioactive labeling.
What is the similarity of radioactive isotope and radioactive dating?
Radioactive isotopes are used for radioactive dating. For example, you would use radioactive isotope Carbon-14 to date anything under 70,000 years that was once living. Radioactive isotopes decay from their parent isotope to daughter isotope at a constant rate (under any circumstances). The rate at which a parent isotope decays to its daughter isotope is considered one half life. Carbon-14 has a half life of 5730 years and its daughter isotope is Nitrogen-14. In order to determine how old something is you have to find out how much of the parent isotope is present in relation to the daughter.
What is the percentage of radioactive nuclei left after 3 half lives have passed?
12.5%
Isotope A has half-life of seconds and isotope B has a half-life of millions of years which isotope is more radioactive?
Isotope A
The time required for half of a sample of a radioactive isotope to break down by radioactive decay to form a daughter isotope.?
its called Half-Time...
What is half of a radioactive isotope?
Half of a radioactive isotope is an atom that would have half of the atomic number of the radioactive isotope. In the case of radium-88 (88Ra), half of the radioactive isotope would be ruthenium-44 (44Ru). This assumes that the protons do not break down and that none are lost to additional reactions with other elements or compounds. Electrons can be lost along the radioactive chain, resulting in an ion of ruthenium rather than an electrically neutral atom.
