High School

Suppose you have a 100 g sample of iridium-182, which undergoes beta decay to form osmium-182. The half-life of iridium-182 is 15 minutes. After 60 minutes, how much iridium-182 will remain in the sample?

A. 50 g
B. 12.5 g
C. 6.25 g

Answer :

Final answer:

After 60 minutes or four half-lives, only 6.25g of the initial 100g iridium-182 sample would remain, as it undergoes beta decay with a half-life of 15 minutes.

Explanation:

The question refers to the process of beta decay occurring in a sample of iridium-182. Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay where a beta particle is emitted from an unstable nucleus, causing the element to transmute into a new element—in this case, from iridium to osmium. The rate at which this decay happens is characterized by the half-life, which is the time it takes for half of a sample of the element to decay.In this instance, the half-life of iridium-182 is 15 minutes. Hence, after 15 minutes (one half-life), 50% of the original 100g sample would remain undecayed, i.e., 50g of iridium-182. After another 15 minutes (a total of 30 minutes, or two half-lives), this 50g would further reduce by half to 25g. After 45 minutes (three half-lives), 12.5g would remain. Finally, after 60 minutes or four half-lives, the amount of iridium in the sample would halve again, leaving 6.25g. So, the answer is c. 6.25.

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