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Do radioactive isotopes need thousands of years to decay?

Half-lives of radioactive isotopes are between several nanoseconds and more than 10e22 years.


What is the half -life of most radioactive istopes?

The half-life of most radioactive isotopes ranges from fractions of a second to billions of years. Some common radioactive isotopes, like carbon-14 and uranium-238, have half-lives of thousands to millions of years, while others, like iodine-131, have half-lives of only days or even seconds.


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 the half-life of every radioactive element?

The same element can have different half-lives, for different isotopes. You can find a list at the Wikipedia article "List of radioactive isotopes by half-life". This list is NOT complete; a complete list would have about 3000 nuclides (that is, isotopes).


How long is the half life of radioactive water?

The half-life of radioactive water depends on the specific isotope present in the water. Common radioactive isotopes found in water include tritium and carbon-14, which have half-lives of about 12.3 years and 5,730 years, respectively.

Related Questions

What is meant by half life of radioactive isotopes?

This is the time in which half the the atoms was disintegrated.


Why is silver radioactive?

Silver itself is not radioactive. However, certain isotopes of silver can be radioactive. For example, silver-108 and silver-110 are radioactive isotopes with long half-lives that can undergo radioactive decay. These isotopes are not commonly found in nature.


Do radioactive isotopes need thousands of years to decay?

Half-lives of radioactive isotopes are between several nanoseconds and more than 10e22 years.


State what is meant by half life of radioactive isotopes?

This is the time in which half the the atoms was disintegrated.


What is half-life as it relates to a radioactive element?

It really applies to radioactive isotopes, not elements. An element may have different isotopes, some of which are radioactive, some not.The half-life is the time it takes for half of a sample to decay - for the atoms to convert to some other type of atom.


Among the following radioactive parent isotopes, which has the shortest half-life?

The radioactive parent isotope with the shortest half-life among the options provided.


Which element is most radioactive plutonium uranium or cerium?

All the isotopes of uranium and plutonium are radioactive; plutonium isotopes have a greater specific activity. For cerium: the isotopes 136Ce and 142Ce are possible to be radioactive but having very long half lives and a not significative radioactivity.


Do radioactive isotopes disintegrate easily?

There is a very wide range of half-life for different radioactive isotopes, ranging from the billions of years to very small fractions of a second. So some isotopes disintegrate immediately, and others last a very long time.


What element that has no stable isotopes?

Technetium (Tc) is the element that has no stable isotopes. All of its isotopes are radioactive with half-lives ranging from minutes to millions of years.


What is the half -life of most radioactive istopes?

The half-life of most radioactive isotopes ranges from fractions of a second to billions of years. Some common radioactive isotopes, like carbon-14 and uranium-238, have half-lives of thousands to millions of years, while others, like iodine-131, have half-lives of only days or even seconds.


What is the calculation of radioactive isotopes?

Examples characteristics: half life, specific activity, radiotoxicity.


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.