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Three Half-Lives Later
Modern Physics / Radioactive Decay - 3 min
A large sample initially contains one radioactive isotope. In each half-life, half of the parent nuclei still present are expected to remain undecayed. No new parent nuclei are added. After three half-lives, what fraction of the original parent nuclei is expected to remain undecayed?
Assumptions
Use independent exponential decay with one fixed half-life. Count only the original undecayed parent nuclei, not daughter products. The question concerns the expected population, not an exact count in one small sample.
More Options for Three Half-Lives Later
Collection question · Revision 1 · ID: three-half-lives