Answers to GCSE Different half lives of radioactive isotopes

Answers to GCSE Different half lives of radioactive isotopes

Practice Questions

1. Define the term half life

The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the time it takes for the number of nuclei of the isotope in a sample to halve. 

or

The time it takes for the count rate (or activity) from a sample containing the isotope to fall to half its initial level.

2. Which radioactive source Iodine-131 or Cobalt-60 is likely to emit more radiation over a 1 day time period?

Iodine-131 as it has a shorter half life

3. Radioactive waste stays radioactive for tens of thousands of years, suggest why.

The waste contains a radioactive isotope with a long half life, so it decays over a long time period

 

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