Half life Flashcards
Activity
the rate at which a source of radiation decays
measured in Becquerels Bq
What happens when a radioactive nucleus decays
one more radioactive nucleus disappears
What happens as the unstable nuclei all disappear
the activity as a whole will decrease
How long can it take for different isotopes to decay
it can vary as some can take a few hours and other can take millions of years
What is the problem with trying to measure the decaying of a radioactive sourcew
the activity never reaches 0
How do we use the idea of half life
to measure how quickly the activity drop off
What is half life
the average time taken for the number of radioactive nuclei in an isotope to halve
what does a short half life mean
activity falls quickly because the nuclei are very unstable and rapidly decay
Dangers of short half life
emits high amount of radiation but for a short period of time
dangers of a long half life
the source sits there releasing small amount of radiation fora long time, making nearby areas exposed to radiation
