The half-life of a radioactive element is 5 Calculate its decay constant
Answer Details
The half-life of a radioactive element is the time it takes for half of the original atoms to decay. In this case, the half-life is 5. The decay constant (represented by the symbol λ) is a measure of how quickly the radioactive atoms decay. It is defined as the probability of decay per unit time. To calculate the decay constant, we can use the formula: λ = ln(2) / T1/2 where ln(2) is the natural logarithm of 2, and T1/2 is the half-life. Substituting the given values, we get: λ = ln(2) / 5 Calculating this expression gives: λ ≈ 0.139 s-1 Therefore, the decay constant of the radioactive element is approximately 0.139 s-1.