Physics 2 - Half-Life

Half-Life

HALF LIFE is the AVERAGE TIME it takes for the NUMBER OF NUCLEI in a RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPE SAMPLE to HALVE

• Each time a decay happens and an alpha, beta or gamma is given out, it means one more radioactive nucleus has disappeared.
• Obviously, as the unstable nuclei all steadily disappear, the activity will decrease. So the older a sample becomes, the less radiation it will emit.
• The problem with trying to…