Instructions

You will create a T-table with “same/similar” and “new/different” headings on page 51 in your notebook.
(Glue this page on 50). You will read the short reading, and you will compare the information in the
reading to the data/graph you created during the “Pennium” activity. Write down anything that is the
same or similar in the activity and the reading on one side of the T-table, and write down any new or
different (as in, it doesn’t match your data)

Reading
All radioactive decay processes are random. You cannot tell when they are going to happen. But
scientists can determine the rate of decay of a large sample. For example, one of the radioactive
waste products of a nuclear power plant is iodine-131. A 100 g sample requires eight days to
decay to 50 g of iodine-131. After another eight days (Day 16), only 25 g of iodine-131 remain.
Can you guess how much iodine-131
remains after the next eight days (Day
24)? Yes, the answer is 12.5 g. The
eventual product of decay is the noble
gas xenon.
Look to the right at a graphic way to
think of the rate of decay. You will
notice how half of the original amount
decays each eight days. This eight-
day period for iodine -131 is called its
half-life. If the half life for iodine was 4
days, it would have decayed to 25g in
8 days. Naturally, isotopes with a
shorter half-life produce decay products at a faster rate.
Half-life is a characteristic property of an isotope. Half-life varies from 4.5 billion years for
uranium-238 to fractions of a second for some heavier-than- uranium elements, such as
einsteinium, created by scientists in advanced research facilities.
What is half-life?
Half-lives of some radioactive isotopes If radioactive material (radioisotope) has a
half-life of 14 days, half of its atoms will have
Americium - 241 432.7 years decayed within 14 days. In 14 more days, half
of that remaining half will decay, and so on.
Fluorine - 18 109.7 minutes Some isotopes may change in the next
second, some in the next hour, some
tomorrow, and some next year. Other
Carbon - 14 5,715 years
isotopes will not decay for thousands of
years. Half-lives range from fractions of a
Hydrogen - 3 (tritium) 12.32 years second to several billion years.

Iodine - 131 8 days

Iridium - 191 4.8 seconds

Krypton - 85 10.7 years

Technetium - 99m 6.01 hours

Uranium - 235 700 million years