2006-12-20 01:03:05 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Half life of an element is the time taken by it to disintegrate to half of its original amount. It is defined only for radioactive elements. These elements keep disintegrating throughout. Suppose we have 10kg uranium ( a radioactive element) and let its half life be 10 years. This means that the amount will be 5kg after 10 years, 2.5 after another 10 years and 1.25 after another 10 years and it keeps on decreasing. An interesting thing to note is that these elements never reduce to zero amount as half of nothing except zero itself is zero. This half life is also very useful in determining the age of fossils. All living things have C 14 carbon in them present in a specific amount and it starts decreasing after they die. So by determining the amount of C 14 left in a fossil one can determine its age. Hope by now you know enough about half life. Take care. All the best!
2006-12-20 02:11:05 · answer #1 · answered by Angel 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
What does half-life of an element/radioactive element means?
2015-08-08 13:00:46 · answer #2 · answered by Nickie 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Half-life refers to the time it takes for an element to degrade into another element. The half-life of strontium-90 is 450 years. That means that a kilogram of strontium-90 will be only half a kilogram in 450 years. The other half will have degraded into a more stable form diue to the emission of neutrons.
2006-12-20 01:17:46 · answer #3 · answered by kevpet2005 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Simply put. half-life of an element is the time required for an original concentration of an element to be reduced to half.
2006-12-20 03:14:48 · answer #4 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The halfway of a radioactive element is the time taken for half of the sample to decay (that is, emit radiation and transform into another element).
2006-12-20 01:23:29 · answer #5 · answered by manuelkuhs 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Half life of a radio active element means it get disintegrate in to half of the quantity which it has previously
2006-12-20 03:52:24 · answer #6 · answered by mohd matheen 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Half life of an element means the time it will take to reduce itself to half of its initial quantity. In one half life period it becomes 0.5 times the original and in 2 half life periods it becomes 0.25 times the original and so on. The initial amount also keeps changing with each half life.
2006-12-20 16:31:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Half Life refers to the time in which the amount of a radioactive substance becomes half of its original amount.
t 1/2 =0.693/n
where n = no. of disintegrations
2006-12-20 01:08:52 · answer #8 · answered by dfla 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What Does Element Mean
2016-06-25 14:51:50 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that after that time, only half of the original element is left, the rest have been transformed into something else. It declines like exp(-t/T), where T is the half-life time.
2006-12-20 01:06:42 · answer #10 · answered by Jens F 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋