Radioactive Isotopes

and Half Life

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What is a Radioactive
Isotope?

What is Radioactive Decay?

What is Half Life?

(Take notes as we discuss)
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 Radioactive Isotopes
Radioactive elements are unstable. They decay,
and change into different elements over time.

Not all elements are radioactive. Those that are

listed below are the most useful for geologic
dating of fossils are:

U-238 Half-life = 4.5 Billion Years

K-40 Half-life = 1.25 Billion Years
C-14 Half-life = 5, 730 Years 3
 Radioactive Decay and Half Life
Here are some facts to remember:

1.The half-life of an element is the time it takes

for half of the material you started with to decay.

2. Each element has it’s own half-life

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Radioactive Decay and Half Life
3. Each element decays into a new
element

Example: C14 decays into N14

4. The half-life of each element is constant.

It’s like a clock keeping perfect time.

Now let’s see how we can use half-life to determine the

age of a rock, fossil or other artifact. 5
The blue grid below represents a quantity of C14. Each time you click,
one half-life goes by and turns red. Half % C14 %N14 Ratio of
C14 – blue N14 - red lives
C to N
14 14

0 100% 0% no ratio

As we begin notice that no

time has gone by and that
100% of the material is C14
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The grid below represents a quantity of C14. Each time you click,
one half-life goes by and you see red. Half % C14 %N14 Ratio of
C14 – blue N14 - red lives
C to N 14 14

0 100% 0% no ratio

1 50% 50% 1:1

After 1 half-life (5730 years), 50% of

the C14 has decayed into N14. The ratio
of C14 to N14 is 1:1. There are equal
amounts of the 2 elements.
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The blue grid below represents a quantity of C14. Each time you click,
one half-life goes by and you see red . Half % C14 %N14 Ratio of
C14 – blue N14 - red lives
C to N 14 14

0 100% 0% no ratio

1 50% 50% 1:1

2 25% 75% 1:3

Now 2 half-lives have gone by for a total

of 11,460 years. Half of the C14 that was
present at the end of half-life #1 has now
decayed to N14. Notice the C:N ratio. It
will be useful later.
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The blue grid below represents a quantity of C14. Each time you click,
one half-life goes by and you see red. Half % C14 %N14 Ratio of
C14 – blue N14 - red lives
C to N 14 14

0 100% 0% no ratio

1 50% 50% 1:1

2 25% 75% 1:3

3 12.5% 87.5% 1:7

After 3 half-lives (17,190 years) only

12.5% of the original C14 remains. For
each half-life period half of the material
present decays. And again, notice the
ratio, 1:7
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10
What is the half life
represented in this
graph?

1 million years

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 The End

There are ways to figure out

half lives mathematically….
Let’s try some half-life math problems!!

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 Three things to know to solve a
half-life problem
• 1. starting mass – how much of the sample are
you starting with?
• 2. half-life – how long is the half life (the time
it takes for half of the sample to decay) of the
sample?
• 3. how much time has passed?

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 Here is how to tackle these:
The half-life of Zn-71 is 2.4 minutes. If one had
100.0 g at the beginning, how many grams
would be left after 7.2 minutes has elapsed?

1. Write down the three things to know

Starting mass:
Half-life:
Time passed:
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2. Fill in the information from the problem.
The half-life of Zn-71 is 2.4 minutes. If one had
100.0 g at the beginning, how many grams
would be left after 7.2 minutes has elapsed?
Starting mass: 100.0 g
Half life: 2.4 minutes
Time passed: 7.2 minutes

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Make a table with TIME on the left
and MASS on the right
Remember, the time units are whatever the
problem states.
Always start with time as 0 and mass as the
starting mass giving in the problem.
The interval to go up by on the time side is the
HALF LIFE, given in the problem.
The interval to go down by on the mass side is
always by a half. (Hence, “half-life”)
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Make a table with TIME on the left
and MASS on the right
TIME (minutes) MASS (g)

0 100

2.4 50

4.8 25

7.2 12.5

Notice the time side always goes up

by 2.4 minutes. This is the half life in
the problem. The mass side always
goes down by a half.
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 Recall the original problem:
• The half-life of Zn-71 is 2.4 minutes. If one had
100.0 g at the beginning, how many grams
would be left after 7.2 minutes has elapsed?

• The answer would be…..

• 12.5 g (just look at your table for 7.2
minutes)

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• LET’S DO SOME MORE TOGETHER
FOLLOWING THIS STRATEGY.

• I will do them on the board and you do them

on your paper.

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