Question

Uranium-235 decays to thorium-231 with a half-life of 700 million years. When a rock was formed, it contained 6400 million uranium-235 nuclei and no thorium-231 nuclei. Show that after 2100 million years there are seven times more thorium nuclei than uranium nuclei in the rock.

Answer 1

Answer:

proof in explanation

Explanation:

First, we will calculate the number of half-lives:

$n = \frac{t}{t_{1/2}}$

where,

n = no. of half-lives = ?

t = total time passed = 2100 million years

$t_{1/2}$ = half-life = 700 million years

Therefore,

$n = \frac{2100\ million\ years}{700\ million\ years}\\\\n = 3$

Now, we will calculate the number of uranium nuclei left ($n_u$):

$n_u = \frac{1}{2^{n} }(total\ nuclei)\\\\n_u = \frac{1}{2^{3} }(6400\ million)\\\\n_u = \frac{1}{8}(6400\ million)\\\\n_u = 800\ million$

and the rest of the uranium nuclei will become thorium nuclei ($u_{th}$)

$n_{th} = total\ nuclei - n_u\\n_{th} = 6400\ million-800\ million\\n_{th} = 5600\ million$

dividing both:

$\frac{n_{th}}{n_u}=\frac{5600\ million}{800\ million} \\\\n_{th} = 7n_u$

Hence, it is proven that after 2100 million years there are seven times more thorium nuclei than uranium nuclei in the rock.