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Radioactivity 3

Half-life
Name & Set
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In an experiment to determine the half-life of Radon-220 (

220
86

Rn ) the following results were

obtained, after allowing for the background count.

Time /s

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Count rate /s-1

30

26

23

21

18

16

14

12

Count rate/s-1

(i) Plot the count rate on the y-axis against the time on the x-axis

Time/s

(ii) Determine the half-life of radon-220 from the graph: ______________________________ [1]
(ii) Predict the approximate count rate 100 seconds after the start of the experiment.
____________________________________________________________________________ [1]
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The isotope

14
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decays with a half-life of 5000 years. If the initial activity of a sample of

Carbon-14 is 96 counts per minute, how long will it take for the activity of the sample to fall to
12 counts per minute?
______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ [3]

3
(i)

(a) Explain what is meant by the terms


half-life ____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________ [2]
(i)

background radiation _________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________ [2]
(b) The count rate from an artificially produced radioactive element is measured daily at midday.
The results are given in the table below.
Time / days

Count rate / per min

12,000

7650

5000

3300

2150

1400

900

(i) Plot a graph of detector count rate (y-axis) against time (x-axis)

[4]

(ii) Measure from the graph two values for the half-life of the element.
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________ [2]
(iii) Find from the graph the count rate after 3.5 days.
____________________________________________________________________________ [1]

A medical physicist uses iodine-123 as a tracer in diagnosis of thyroid problems.

Count rate (counts per minute)

Decay curve for Iodine 123


800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Time (hours)

(a) (i) Using the graph, write down the half-life of iodine-123. _________________________ [1]
(ii) What is the count rate after 24 hours? _________________________________________ [1]
(b) (i) If 0.08 g of iodine-123 in solution is injected into a patient, what is the maximum amount
still in the body after 39 hours?
______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(ii) Why is it unlikely to actually be this much?
___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(c) (i) Iodine-123 is a gamma emitter. Another isotope, iodine-131, with a half-life of 8 days is a
beta emitter. Give two reasons why iodine-131 is not suitable as a tracer in the body.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ [2]

An archaeologist finds human bones in the ground and sends them for carbon-dating.

(a)
(ii)

(i)Which isotope of carbon is measured in carbon dating? __________________________ [1]


Why is the element carbon chosen as the one to measure?

______________________________________________________________________________

Count rate per minute

___________________________________________________________________________ [2]
(b) The graph below shows the decay curve for radioactive carbon

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

(i)

5000

10000

15000

20000
Time in years

What is the half-life of this carbon isotope?

___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(ii) If the initial count rate was 100 counts per minute and the analysis of the archaeologists
sample gave a count rate of 60 counts per minute, how old is the sample?.
___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(iii) If the sample was know to date from 0 AD, what count rate would you expect?
___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(c) The archaeologist believes that there may have been civilizations in the world more than
10,000 years ago. Give two reasons why carbon dating would be unsuitable for testing any
samples from this period.
(i) ____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
(ii) ____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________ [1]
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