Question

Americium-241 is used in smoke detectors. it has a first order rate constant for radioactive decay of k=1.6×10−3yr−1. by contrast, iodine-125, which is used to test for thyroid functioning, has a rate constant for radioactive decay of k= 0.011 day−1.

Answer 1

This question is missing the part that actually asks the question. The questions that are asked are as follows:

(a) How much of a 1.00 mg sample of americium remains after 4 day? Express your answer using 2 significant figures.

(b) How much of a 1.00 mg sample of iodine remains after 4 days? Express your answer using 3 significant figures.

We can use the equation for a first order rate law to find the amount of material remaining after 4 days:

[A] = [A]₀e^(-kt)

[A]₀ = initial amount
k = rate constant
t = time
[A] = amount of material at time, t.

(a) For americium we begin with 1.00 mg of sample and must convert time to units of years, as our rate constant, k, is in units of yr⁻¹.

4 days x 1 year/365 days = 0.0110

A = (1.00)e^((-1.6x10^-3)(0.0110))
A = 1.0 mg

The decay of americium is so slow that no noticeable change occurs over 4 days.

(b) We can simply plug in the information of iodine-125 and solve for A:

A = (1.00)e^(-0.011 x 4)
A = 0.957 mg

Iodine-125 decays at a much faster rate than americium and after 4 days there will be a significant loss of mass.