Radioactive decay: Rutherfordium-261 has a half-life of 1.08 min. How long will it take for a sample of rutherfordium to lose one-third of its nuclei?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the time it takes for one-third of the nuclei to decay, we use the formula for exponential decay: N(t) = N0 * (1/2)^(t/T), where T is the half-life. We set N(t) = (2/3)N0 and solve for t, giving t = T * (log(2/3) / log(1/2)) ≈ 0.632 min.

Radioactive Decay: Rutherfordium-261 Has a Half-Life of 1