Exponential law of decay
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9 Terms
What can we predict in radioactivity?
Number of nuclei decayed at a certain time (we cannot predict when they will occur)
What is activity?
the number of nuclei that decay each second
What is activity proportional to?
Size of the sample
What is the decay constant?
the probability that a given nucleus will decay each second
Activity equation
A = -dN/dt = decay constant (N)
What happens to the number of undecayed nuclei left in the sample?
It exponentially decreases
Decay equations
A = A0e^-decayconstant(t)
N = N0e^-decayconstant(t)
What is a half life?
The average time is takes for the number of unstable nuclei to half
How can we find half life?
Finding the time it takes for count rate to half
Find count rate over time by finding the number of counts over the time the measurement is taken
Substrate the background count rate from this
Plot on a graph
Using an exponential graph we can read off the time where the number has halved
Use decay constant = ln2/half life
Note 
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