Give It Some Thought 21.6 Part A Would doubling the mass of a radioactive sample

Question

Give It Some Thought 21.6

Part A Would doubling the mass of a radioactive sample change the half-life for the radioactive decay? Would doubling the mass of a radioactive sample change the half-life for the radioactive decay?

No. Half-lives are characteristic properties of the various unstable atomic nuclei.

Yes. The half-life is the time required for half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to become disintegrated and as a result it depends on the number of radioactive nuclei.

Yes. Both the mass of a particular radioisotope and its half-life are proportional to the number of radioactive nuclei.

No. Half-lives are affected by external conditions such as temperature, pressure, or state of chemical combination, but half-lives do not depend on the mass of aradioactive sample.

Explanation / Answer

Ans A. NO. half lives are characteristic properties of the various unstable nuclei.

So increasing the mass will not change the half life .doubling the mass doubles the radioactivity within the sample, hence the half life remains altered. Infact the change in temperature and pressure also will not affect the decay of nuclides because the external conditions can only affect atomic motions but not the forces occuring inside the nucleus which is the cause of radioactivity.

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