A radioactive material initially is observed to have an activity of 1000 decays/sec. If nine hours later it is observed to have an activity of 125 decays/s, what is its half-life?
a. 1/2 hour
c. 3 hours
b. 8 hours
d. 1 hour
Question 2
Neglecting recoil of the gold nucleus, how much kinetic energy must an alpha particle (charge = 2 1.6 10-19 C) have to approach to within 1.95 10-14 m of a gold nucleus (charge = 79 1.6 10-19 C)? (ke = 8.99 109 Nm2/C2 and 1 MeV = 1.6 10-13 J)
a. 14.6 MeV
c. 18.2 MeV
b. 11.7 MeV
d. 22.7 MeV