The half-life of hydrogen-3 (tritium) is approximately 12 years. In how many years will half of a 20-gram sample decay by beta radiation to helium-3?

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Physics

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19 July, 08:25

The half-life of hydrogen-3 (tritium) is approximately 12 years. In how many years will half of a 20-gram sample decay by beta radiation to helium-3?

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Carmen · Answer 1

The easiest way to work this out is to think of the amount of decay as a percentage. so in 12 years its down to 50% another 12 years its down to 25%, another 12 years its 11.5 %.

for a 20 gram sample to decay by half will still be 12 years no matter how many grams one has.