Question

The half-life of Co-55 is 175 hours. How much of a 4000 g of Cobalt-55 sample would be left after 525 hours?

Answer 1

We know that whatever amount we start with, half of it decays and forms atoms of other elements in 175 hours.  So in order to figure out how much is left after 525 hours, we'll need to know how many half-lifes pass in that amount of time.

Well, (525 divided by 175) is exactly 3 half-lifes.  So this will be easy.

-- After 1 half-life . . .

. . . . . 50% decays, 50% is still there.

-- After the 2nd half-life . . .

. . . . . (half of the leftover 50%) = another 25% decays, 25% is left.

-- After the 3rd half-life . . .

. . . . . (half of the leftover 25%) = another 12.5% decays, 12.5% is left.

12.5% of 4,000g = (0.125 x 4,000g) = 500 g .

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Another way:

After 1 half-life, 1/2 is left.

After 2 half-lifes, 1/4 is left.

After 3 half-lifes, 1/8 is left.

1/8 of 4,000g = (4,000g/8) = 500 g .