Teacher Guide: Half-life

Learning Objectives
Students will …
 Observe the decay of a radioactive substance.
 Interpret a graph showing the rate of decay of a radioactive substance.
 Find the half-life of a radioactive substance.
 Estimate a substance’s age based on percentages of radioactive and daughter atoms.

Vocabulary
daughter atom, decay, Geiger counter, half-life, isotope, neutron, radiation, radioactive,
radiometric dating

Lesson Overview
A radioactive element consists of atoms that can
spontaneously decay, releasing energy or particles.
This energy can be used to generate electricity or to
trigger the chain reaction of a nuclear bomb. The rate
of decay is described by the material’s half-life—the
time required for half of the radioactive atoms to decay.

The Half-life Gizmo allows students to observe and

measure the decay of radioactive atoms into daughter
atoms. By examining a graph showing the decay of the
material, students can gain an understanding of what
the term half-life means, how a half-life is determined,
and why half-lives are useful.

The Student Exploration sheet contains two activities:

 Activity A – Students interpret graphs of radioactive decay and are introduced to the
concept of a half-life.
 Activity B – Students determine the half-lives of radioactive isotopes and estimate the
ages of objects based on the percentages of radioactive atoms remaining in the sample.

Suggested Lesson Sequence

1. Pre-Gizmo activity: Popcorn ( 5 – 10 minutes)

A good analogy for the decay of radioactive atoms is the popping of microwave popcorn.
Bring a microwave oven into class, put in a package of popcorn, and heat the package
for the recommended time. Ask students to listen closely to the popping sounds.

When the popcorn has popped, ask students whether the popping occurred at the same
rate throughout the cooking time, or if it varied. If it did vary, when was popping fastest
and slowest? Is it possible to predict when an individual kernel will pop? Is it possible to
predict when approximately half of the kernels will be popped?

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2. Prior to using the Gizmo ( 10 – 15 minutes)
Before students are at the computers, pass out the Student Exploration sheets and ask
students to complete the Prior Knowledge Questions. Discuss student answers as a
class, but do not provide correct answers at this point. Afterwards, if possible, use a
projector to introduce the Gizmo and demonstrate its basic operations. Demonstrate how
to take a screenshot and paste the image into a blank document.

3. Gizmo activities ( 15 – 20 minutes per activity)

Assign students to computers. Students can work individually or in small groups. Ask
students to work through the activities in the Student Exploration using the Gizmo.
Alternatively, you can use a projector and do the Exploration as a teacher-led activity.

4. Discussion questions ( 15 – 30 minutes)

As students are working or just after they are done, discuss the following questions:
 How is the decay of radioactive atoms similar to the popping of microwave
popcorn? How is it different?
 What is a half-life?
 What percentage of radioactive atoms would remain after six half-lives have
passed? What percentage of the atoms will be daughter atoms? [1.5625%
radioactive atoms, 98.4375% daughter atoms.]
 A substance has 13,000 radioactive atoms and 87,000 daughter atoms. If the
half-life of the radioactive isotope is 200 million years, how old is it? [About three
half-lives have passed, so the substance is approximately 600 million years old.]
 Suppose you were comparing two radioactive isotopes. One had a half-life of
1 year, and the other had a half-life of 200 years.
o Which isotope would be more dangerous to handle? Why?
o Which isotope would be more difficult to dispose of? Why?

5. Follow-up activity: Decay of boxium ( 45 – 60 minutes)

Model the decay of a new radioactive isotope, called “boxium.” First, obtain a large
supply of small unit cubes (available from catalogs or math teachers). Use a marker to
draw a black dot on one side of each cube. Pass out 50 or 100 marked cubes to each
group of students. (Note: Pennies or candies such as M&M’S® can be substituted if
cubes are not available. See the Selected Web Resources on the next page.)

In the simulation, students shake the cubes in a cup and then scatter them in a tray.
Cubes that land with the dotted side up have “decayed” into the daughter atom “dotium”
and are removed from the group. The number of remaining radioactive boxium cubes is
counted and recorded, and then the procedure is repeated until no cubes remain.

Individual student groups can create their own decay curves, and the results of all
groups can be tabulated to create a class decay curve. Based on the graphs, try to
estimate the half-life of boxium. In theory, if each roll of the cubes represents a time unit
(such as one year), then the half-life of boxium should be 3.8 time units. Students can
also use the class graph to solve radiometric dating problems (i.e., how old is your

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 sample if it contains 13 boxium atoms and 37 dotium atoms?) or to discuss how the
number of cubes affects the shape of the decay curve.
Scientific Background
Most atoms have a stable nucleus, which means that the nucleus remains unchanged from the
time the atom formed inside a star. Other atoms are radioactive, which means they are capable
of spontaneous decay. During decay, particles and/or energy are emitted from the nucleus,
often resulting in a change in the number of protons inside the nucleus. If this occurs, the result
is a different element, called a daughter product, which may or may not be stable. (In many
cases, the daughter products also are radioactive and several stages of decay occur before a
stable product is formed.)

The three most common types of decay are alpha, beta, and gamma decay. In alpha decay, an
alpha particle (2 protons and 2 neutrons) is emitted from the nucleus. In beta decay, a beta
particle (1 electron) is released as a neutron in the nucleus changes into a proton. In gamma
decay, energy is emitted from the atom in the form of gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects the
radiation that is emitted from radioactive substances—each particle or gamma ray that strikes
the instrument causes an audible “click.” This sound is reproduced in the Half-life Gizmo.

Although the exact moment an individual atom will

decay cannot be predicted, the probability it will
decay can be determined, and the decay of a large
group of atoms will fall close to a decay curve such
as the one shown at right. The half-life is the time
required for half of the radioactive atoms to decay.
The decay curve at right shows a half-life of 20
seconds. Notice that every 20 seconds the number
of radioactive atoms has been reduced by half:
There are 128 atoms at 0 seconds, 64 atoms at 20
seconds, 32 atoms at 40 seconds, 16 atoms at 60
seconds, and so forth. The graph can also be used
to estimate the numbers of radioactive atoms at
other times as well.

The predictable rate of radioactive decay forms the basis of radiometric dating. If the half-life of
a radioactive element is known and the proportions of radioactive and daughter atoms can be
measured, the age of the sample can be determined. Several radioactive isotopes are useful for
radiometric dating: Carbon-14 (half-life = 5,730 years) is used to date wood, ash, bone, and
other organic artifacts up to 50,000 years old. Potassium-40 (half-life = 1.25 billion years) is
used to date igneous rocks and volcanic ash. Uranium-238 and uranium-235 (half-lives of 4.47
billion and 704 million years) are also used to date ancient igneous rocks.

Selected Web Resources

ABC’s of nuclear science: http://www2.lbl.gov/abc/Basic.html#Radioactivity
Radioactive decay (advanced): http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py106/Radioactivity.html
Radiometric time scale: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/radiometric.html
Radiocarbon dating: http://www.c14dating.com/int.html
Radioactive decay simulations: http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/isotopes-of-pennies/,
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/radioactive-decay-a-sweet-simulation-of-a-half-life/,
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/frosty-the-snowman-meets-his-demise/
Element Builder Gizmo: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?424

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Nuclear Decay Gizmo: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?490

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