15.

2 Decay constant and Half-life

15.2.1 Decay constant
• Law of radioactive decay states:
 dN 
“For a radioactive source, the decay rate   dt  is
directly proportional to the number of radioactive
nuclei N present in the source.
i.e. Negative sign means the
 dN 
  N number of nuclei present
 dt  decreases with time
dN
 N (15.2a)
dt Decay
constant

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Rearranging eq. (15.2a) :
dN
rate of decay
   dt 
N number of radioactive nuclei present

Hence the decay constant is defined as the

probability that a radioactive nucleus will decay
in one second.
second Its unit is s-1.

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• The decay constant is a characteristic of the radioactive
nuclei.
• Rearrange eq. (15.2a), we get (15.2b)
dN
 dt
N
At time t=0, N=N0 (initial number of radioactive nuclei in
the sample) and after a time t, the number of radioactive
nuclei present is N. Integration of eq. (15.2b) from t=0 to
time t :
N dN t
N0 N
   dt
0

 ln N  N
N0    t 
t
0
N
ln   λt
N0 Exponential law
N  N 0 e  λt (15.2c) of radioactive
decay
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
•From the eq. (15.2c), thus the graph of N, the number of
radioactive nuclei present in a sample, against the time t is
shown in figure 15.2a.
N

N0

N  N 0 e  t
N0
2

N0 T1 : half  life
4 2
N0
8 N0
16 time, t
0 T1 2T1 3T1 4T1 5T1
2 2 2 2 2 Simulation
Fig. 15.2a
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• From the graph above, the life of any radioactive nuclide
is infinite, therefore to talk about the life of radioactive
nuclide, we refer to its half-life.

15.2.2 Half-life
Definition – is defined as the time taken for a
sample of radioactive nuclides disintegrate to
half of the initial number of nuclei.

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  t
• From the eq. (15.2c) N
:  N0e and the definition of
half-life, when t  T1 ; N  N 0 , thus
2 2
 T 1
N0
 N0 e 2
2
 T 1
1
e 2
2 T 1
2e 2
T 1
taking in ln 2  ln e 2

ln 2 0.693
Half-life T1   (15.2d)
2 λ λ
The half-life of any given radioactive nuclide is constant, it
does not depend on the number of nuclei present.
• The units of the half-life are second (s), minute (min), hour
(hr), day and year (y). Its unit depend on the unit of decay
constant.
• Table 15.2a shows the value of half-life for several
isotopes.

Isotope Half-life
238
92 U 4.5 x 109 years
234
90 Th 24 days
222
86 Rn 3.8 days
214
83 Bi 20 minutes
Table 15.2a

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Example 1:
Initially, a radioactive sample contains of 1.0 x 106 nuclei.
The half-life of the sample is T1/2. Calculate the number of
nuclei present after 0.5T1/2.

Solution: N0=1.0 x 106 nuclei, t=0.5T1/2

By rearranging the equation of half-life, we get
ln 2
 (1)
T1
2  T 1
From the exponential law: N  N0e 2 (2)
By substituting eq. (1) and t =0.5T1/2 into eq. (2),
hence 


 
ln 2  
 0.5T 1 
 T 1   
2 
 
N  N0e  2 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
 
N  1.0  10 e6
 0.5 ln 2

N  7.07  10 5 nuclei
Example 2:
A radioactive source contains 1.0 x 10-6 g of Pu-239. If the
source emits 2300 alpha particles per second, calculate
a. the decay constant.
b. the half-life.
(Given Avogadro constant, NA=6.02 x 1023 mol-1)
Solution:
dN
 2300 s -1
a. 239 g of dt Pu-239 contains 6.02 x 1023 nuclei
1.0 x 10-6 g of Pu-239 contains

 1.0  10 23 
 6.02  10 23 nuclei
 239 
 2.52  10 15 nuclei 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Hence N0 = 2.52 x 1015 nuclei
By applying the equation for law of radioactive decay,
thus dN
 N 0
dt
 2300    2.52  10 15 
13
λ  9.13  10 s -1

b. The half-life of Pu-239 is

ln 2
T1 
2 
T1  7 .59  10 11 s
2

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15.2.3 Activity of radioactive sample (A)
 dN 
 
Definition – is defined as the decay rate  dt  of a
radioactive sample.
Its unit is number of decays per second.
Other units for activity are curie (Ci) and
becquerel (Bq) – S.I. unit.

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 • Unit conversion :

1 Ci  3.7  10 10 decays per second

1 Bq  1 decay per second
• Relation between activity (A) of radioactive sample and
time t dN
– From the law of radioactive decay : dt  N
and definition of activity : A  dN
thus, dt
A  N and
 t
N  N0e
A     N 0 e  t  and A0  N 0

 λt
A  A0 e (17.2e)
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Activity at time t
Activity at time, t=0
• Example 3:
Thorium-234 has a half-life of 24 days. The initial
activity of this isotope is 10Ci. Calculate
a. the activity of the isotope after 72 days.
b. the time taken for the activity to fall to 2.5 Ci.
Solution: T1/2= 24 days, A0= 10Ci
a. Given t=72 days
The decay constant of the thorium-234 is
ln 2 ln 2
T1   days 1
2  24
The activity of the isotope after 72 days is
A  A0 e  t  1n 2 
   72 
A   10 Ci  e  24 

A  1.25 Ci
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b. Given A=2.5 Ci
By using the equation of activity for radioactive
sample, thus  t
A  A0 e  1n 2 
  t 
2.5 Ci   10 Ci  e  24 
 2.5   ln 2 
taking ln, ln    t
 10   24 
t  48 days
(Given Avogadro constant, NA=6.02 x 10 mol ) 23 -1  234
90 Th 

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Example 4:
A uranium-238 isotope which has a half-life of 4.47 x 109
years decays by emitting alpha particle into thorium-234
nucleus. Calculate
a. the decay constant.
b. the mass of uranium-238 required to decay with
activity of 6.00 Ci.
c. the number of alpha particles per second for
the decay of 30.0 g uranium-238.

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Solution: T1/2= 4.47x109 years
a. The decay constant of the uranium-238 is
ln 2
T1 
2 
  1.55  10 10 years 1
b. Using unit conversion ( Ci decay/second )
1 Ci  3.7  10 10 decays per second
 
6  10 6 Ci  6  10 6 5 3.7  10 10
 2.22  10 decays/s

Thus, A  2. 22  10 5
decays / s

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Since A  N then
 2.22  10 5
N  nuclei
 1.55  10 10

 
 365  24  3600 
N  4.52  10 nuclei
22

If 6.02 x 1023 nuclei of mass of 238 g uranium-238

 4. 52  10 22

4.52 x 102 nuclei of mass of  
 6.02  10 23 238
2

 
 17.86 g
Therefore the mass of the uranium-238 is given by
mU  17.86 g
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c. 238 g of uranium-238 contains 6.02 x 1023 nuclei
30 g of uranium-239 contains  30 
6.02  10 nuclei
23

 238 
 7.59  10 22 nuclei
Thus, N  7.59  10 22 nuclei
The number of alpha particles per second is

dN Ignored it.
A  N
dt
 1.55  10 10 
A     7.59  10 22
 365  24  3600 

A  3.73  10 5 α  particles/second

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