Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A vial of iodine-131 has an activity of MBq on Monday. The half-life of iodine-131 is days. Find the activity days later, the time in which the activity falls to MBq, and the percentage of the nuclei that decay in the first days.
The number of nuclei falls as . The half-life is , and the mean life is . For two ways to decay, . The activity is , in becquerel.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. After days. The number of half-lives is . So MBq.
Step 2. Down to MBq. , so half-lives are needed. days.
Step 3. The first days. That is half-life. The fraction left is , so of the nuclei have decayed, which is .
Answer: MBq, days and .
Check. In half a half-life more than a quarter has decayed, but not half. The decay is not a straight line.
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