Question

The ​half-life of a radioactive element is 130​ days, but your sample will not be useful to you after​ 80% of the radioactive nuclei originally present have disintegrated. About how many days can you use the​ sample? Round to the nearest day.

Answer 1

Answer:

We can use the sample about 42 days.

Step-by-step explanation:

Decay Equation:

$\frac{dN}{dt}\propto -N$

$\Rightarrow \frac{dN}{dt} =-\lambda N$

$\Rightarrow \frac{dN}{N} =-\lambda dt$

Integrating both sides

$\int \frac{dN}{N} =\int\lambda dt$

$\Rightarrow ln|N|=-\lambda t+c$

When t=0, N=$N_0$ = initial amount

$\Rightarrow ln|N_0|=-\lambda .0+c$

$\Rightarrow c= ln|N_0|$

$\therefore ln|N|=-\lambda t+ln|N_0|$

$\Rightarrow ln|N|-ln|N_0|=-\lambda t$

$\Rightarrow ln|\frac{N}{N_0}|=-\lambda t$.......(1)

                            $\frac{N}{N_0}=e^{-\lambda t}$.........(2)

Logarithm:

• $ln|\frac mn|= ln|m|-ln|n|$
• $ln|ab|=ln|a|+ln|b|$

• $ln|e^a|=a$

• $ln|a|=b \Rightarrow a=e^b$
• $ln|1|=0$

130 days is the half-life of the given radioactive element.

For half life,

$N=\frac12 N_0$,  $t=t_\frac12=130$ days.

we plug all values in equation (1)

$ln|\frac{\frac12N_0}{N_0}|=-\lambda \times 130$

$\rightarrow ln|\frac{\frac12}{1}|=-\lambda \times 130$

$\rightarrow ln|1|-ln|2|-ln|1|=-\lambda \times 130$

$\rightarrow -ln|2|=-\lambda \times 130$

$\rightarrow \lambda= \frac{-ln|2|}{-130}$

$\rightarrow \lambda= \frac{ln|2|}{130}$

We need to find the time when the sample remains 80% of its original.

$N=\frac{80}{100}N_0$

$\therefore ln|{\frac{\frac {80}{100}N_0}{N_0}|=-\frac{ln2}{130}t$

$\Rightarrow ln|{{\frac {80}{100}|=-\frac{ln2}{130}t$

$\Rightarrow ln|{{ {80}|-ln|{100}|=-\frac{ln2}{130}t$

$\Rightarrow t=\frac{ln|80|-ln|100|}{-\frac{ln|2|}{130}}$

$\Rightarrow t=\frac{(ln|80|-ln|100|)\times 130}{-{ln|2|}}$

$\Rightarrow t\approx 42$

We can use the sample about 42 days.