Question27. Find the half-life of a certain element that vaporizes in the air. If it has an initial volume of 50 mL and vaporized 12 mL in 12 minutes.
View answer choices
28. A bacteria was placed inside a 500 mL bottle. Initially, the bacteria has filled up ii. 10 mL of the bottle. After 24 hours, the bottle is completely infested by the bacteria. Find the doubling time of the bacteria: t
View answer choices
29. A radioactive mass was found at 8 am and weighed 50 grams. At 9:30 am it weighed 20 grams. Find the half-life of the mass in hrs.
View answer choices
30. An ice block was delivered at 5 am and weighed 110 kg . At 10 am , the block was reduced to 70 kg . Find its half-life.
View answer choices
Studdy Solution
STEP 1
What is this asking? How long does it take for half of the element's volume to disappear? Watch out! Don't mix up the *remaining* volume with the *vaporized* volume!
STEP 2
1. Set up the exponential decay formula
2. Plug in the given values
3. Solve for the half-life
STEP 3
We're dealing with exponential decay, so let's use the formula , where is the volume at time , is the **initial volume**, is the **rate of decay**, and is the **time**.
Remember, this formula tells us how much volume is *left*, not how much has vaporized!
STEP 4
We're given the time in minutes, so we'll express the rate in "amount vaporized per minute."
STEP 5
We know the **initial volume** mL.
STEP 6
After 12 minutes, 12 mL vaporized, so the remaining volume is mL.
So, .
STEP 7
The element vaporized 12 mL in 12 minutes, so the rate of decay per minute is .
Notice how we divide by the **initial volume** to get the *fraction* of the volume that vaporized per minute.
STEP 8
Now, plug everything into our formula: .
STEP 9
We want to find the half-life, which is the time it takes for half the initial volume to vaporize.
So we set to half of the initial volume: .
STEP 10
Divide both sides by 50: or .
STEP 11
Take the logarithm of both sides (you can use any base, but let's use base 10): .
STEP 12
Now, solve for : .
STEP 13
Calculate the value of : .
So, the half-life is approximately **34.32 minutes**.
STEP 14
The half-life of the element is approximately **34.32 minutes**.
Was this helpful?