Decay and the Laws of Exponents Radioactive substances follow a specific law of

Question

Decay and the Laws of Exponents Radioactive substances follow a specific law of decay Namely, If you have a sample of some radioactive isotope, the quantity left after a certain time, called the halt life and denoted T_1/2, IS one half of what you had Initially If you wait a second half-life then there will be half of what was left at the end of the first half life. Since 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4, you will have one fourth of the original quantity left alter two half lives You can continue with this procedure to find the fraction of the original sample that hasn't decayed after any number of half-lives. However, this would become quite cumbersome if you are interested in the quantity left after, say 10 half-lives. In this case, the quantity you are looking for would be found by multiplying the original quantity by 10 factors or 1/2. To solve this problem, we use exponents An exponent, a small number written above and to the right, tells you how many copies of a particular number are multiplier together In our example where the original quantity of radioactive isotope must be multiplied by 10 factors of 1/2, you can write the multiplication in a more compact way as (1/2)^10 = 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2 * 1/2. 1/2. 1/2. 1/2. 1/2. 1/2. 1/2 Which of the following statements involving exponents? Check all that apply 3^3 = 3. 3. 3 = 27 (1/2)^4 = 1/2. 1/2. 1/2. 1/2 = 1/16 (1/4)^2 = 1/4. 1/4 = 1/8

Explanation / Answer

Part A)

33 = 3 x 3 x 3 = 27

(1/2)4 = (1/2) (1/2) (1/2) (1/2) = 1/16

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse D
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.