Question

A 30 gram sample of a substance that's used to sterilize surgical instruments has a k-value of 0.1235. Find the substances half life in days. Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

Answer : The substances half life in days is, 5.6 days.

Step-by-step explanation :

Half life : It is defined as the amount of time taken by a radioactive material to decay to half of its original value.

All radioactive decays follow first order kinetics.

The relation between the half-life and rate constant is:

$k=\frac{0.693}{t_{1/2}}$

where,

k = rate constant = 0.1235 per days

$t_{1/2}$ = half-life

Now put all the given values in the above formula, we get:

$0.1235\text {days}^{-1}=\frac{0.693}{t_{1/2}}$

$t_{1/2}=5.6\text{ days}$

Thus, the substances half life in days is, 5.6 days.