Identify the nuclide that has the shortest half-life.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The nuclide with the shortest half-life is the one that will decay the quickest, meaning it has the highest decay constant. Rn-220 (Choice C) has the shortest half-life of the options given with a value of only 55.6 seconds. The other options have much longer half-lives, ranging from millions of years for U-235 (Choice A) to only 5.7 years for Th-234 (Choice E), which is still much longer than Rn-220. Therefore, the answer is Option C.

Identify the Nuclide That Has the Shortest Half-Life