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Question

To determine the half life of a radioactive element, a student plots a graph of \(\ln \left | \dfrac{dN(t)}{dt} \right |~\text {versus t. Here}\dfrac {dN(t)}{dt}\) is the rate of radioactive decay at time t. If the number of radioactive nuclei of this element decreases by
a factor of p after 4.16 years, the value of p is

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Solution

Equation for radioactive decay is
N=N0lλt
dNdt=λN0lλt
lndNdt=+ln(λN0)λt
Slope =λ=3464 (from graph)
λ=12 year1
Half life =0.693λ=2×0.693=1.386
4.16 years is approximately 3 half lives
Nuclei will decay by a factor of 23=8

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