Consider a radioactive sample. Determine the ratio of the number of nuclei decaying during the first half of its halflife to the number of nuclei decaying during the second half of its half-life.

Answers

Answer 1

The ratio is 2. To determine the ratio of the number of nuclei decaying during the first half of the half-life to the number of nuclei decaying during the second half of the half-life, we need to understand the concept of half-life.



The half-life of a radioactive substance is the time it takes for half of the radioactive nuclei in a sample to decay. Let's say the half-life of the radioactive substance in question is represented by "t".

During the first half-life (t/2), half of the nuclei in the sample will decay. So, if we start with "N" nuclei, after the first half-life, we will have "N/2" nuclei remaining.

During the second half-life (t/2), another half of the remaining nuclei will decay. So, starting with "N/2" nuclei, after the second half-life, we will have "N/2" divided by 2, which is "N/4" nuclei remaining.

Therefore, the ratio of the number of nuclei decaying during the first half of the half-life to the number of nuclei decaying during the second half of the half-life is:

(N/2) / (N/4)

Simplifying this expression, we get:

(N/2) * (4/N)

This simplifies to:

2

So, the ratio is 2.

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