How to calculate half life of a substance? - ProProfs Discuss
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How to calculate half life of a substance?

Asked by Marlon , Last updated: Apr 09, 2024

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4 Answers

J. Harty

J. Harty

Have keen interest in writing, traveller by heart.

J. Harty
J. Harty, Writer, M.A, Chula Vista

Answered Sep 30, 2020

The half-life of a substance can be calculated in numerous ways. The half-life substance is the required time for a substance to fall from its initial value. This is mostly used for elements that decay such as uranium and plutonium. The calculation for half-life in using a computer/ calculator can be explained as follows.

Determine 3 of the 4 relevant values, which is what is needed to know the initial quantity, time passed, and quantity that remains.

To calculate with a half-life calculator; to get how old an organism is you can input the half-life and the lifetime to get the decay constant.

To calculate with a graphing calculator. You need to know your half-life equation to graph it. To graph, it opens your Y-plots and input Y-1, then press your graph button and open up to see your graph.

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Yashu Dhiman

Yashu Dhiman

I'm a professional writer. I express through my blog and I keep searching for fresh content over the Internet.

Yashu Dhiman
Yashu Dhiman, Content Writer, Diploma in Literature, Noida, India

Answered Aug 18, 2020

In order to understand, you should realize that a half-life stands for the amount of time that it will take for the radioactivity of an isotope to get to its original value. It may also refer to the time that it would take for any property to start decreasing by half. There are some calculators that you can find online that will easily help you find the half-life of the substance that you are measuring but if in case you would need to do it manually on your own, these are what you can do:
* You can follow the formula f(t) = (1/2)t.
* You would need to replace the variable but other than that, you also need to incorporate the initial amount so that you can get the details that you are searching for.

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Larry Thornton

Larry Thornton

Curious about the World

Larry Thornton
Larry Thornton, Student, MBA, Los Angles

Answered Aug 13, 2020

The half-life of a substance, which is usually represented by the sign t1/2, is the time taken for half of a material (radioactive material in most cases) to decay or disintegrate. Though reactions and chemical changes can be sped up or even slowed down due to varying factors which includes concentration, temperature and so on the factors do not have any effect whatsoever on the half-life, because every radioactive isotope has its own half-life which is not dependent on any of the changing factors.

Half-life can be calculated by the use of the simple formula; how much mass remains = 1/2n (original mass), where n is the number of half-lives. This equation can be used to determine the amount of the original isotope that would remain at some point in time. Another method of calculating half-life is given by the formula; t1/2 (half-life) = how old the radioisotope material is / n (number of half-lives).

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T. Wikati

T. Wikati

T. Wikati
T. Wikati, Technical Writer, New York

Answered Aug 12, 2020

The half-life of a substance is related to a substance that is undergoing decay. This half-life is the time it takes for the substance to be able to decrease by half. The first step of calculating it is to understand what exponential decay is, which is the function 1/2f (x).

From there, this function should be written in half-life terms. Then, add the initial quantity to the function, which is N0. From there, the half-life can be solved by dividing both sides of the function by No, bringing the exponent down, and then multiplying the remaining sides.

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