Compare and contrast nuclear decay rates with chemical reaction rates. Explain h

Question

Compare and contrast nuclear decay rates with chemical reaction rates.

Explain how radioactive carbon dating works. Is the carbon isotope the ideal isotope used to calculate the age of dinosaur fossils? Explain your reasoning.

Radon creates a harmful environmental problem. All known isotopes of radon have a half-life of less than four days. Regardless of the short half-life, radon still is found in nature. Where does the radon come from?

A certain isotope of technetium has a half-life of 6.0 hours. Technetium is used in various medical procedures such as stress tests on the heart. What fraction of an initial dose remains in the body 24 hours after the initial dose? Support your answer with a calculation.

Explanation / Answer

Comparing and contrasting nuclear decay rates with chemical reaction rates:

Radioactive decay is the process by which parts/all of an atom's nucleus break apart or separate, due to instability caused by the interactions between particles. A chemical reaction is the process through which chemical bonds are broken and made, and can be distinuighed from comparing the properties of the reactants and products. It usually requires some input of energy to begin.

Nuclear actions such as radioactive decay deal with the stability of the nucleus of the atom, while common chemical reactions deal with the stability of the electrons arranged about the nucleus.

In chemical reactions the elements don't alter their identity. Ca(s) is Calcium whether it is pure or bonded to Chlorine. But in radioactive decay Uranium will change from one element to the next many, many times eventually ending at a stable isotope of lead.

Radioactive carbon dating:

Carbon dating is used to determine the age of biological artifacts up to 50,000 years old. This technique is widely used on recent artifacts, but this technique will not work on older fossils (like those of the dinosaurs alleged to be millions of years old).

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon. The half-life of carbon-14 is approximately 5,730 years. The short half-life of carbon-14 means it cannot be used to date fossils that are allegedly extremely old, e.g. dinosaurs the evolution alleges lived millions of years ago. Levels of carbon-14 become difficult to measure and compare after about 50,000 years (between 8 and 9 half lives; where 1% of the original carbon-14 would remain undecayed).

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