- #1
kraphysics
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What does "Activity" mean in terms of radioactive decay?
I came across this term "activity" in text regarding radioactive decay and half lives. It is defined as "number of nuclei in a sample that decay within a given time."
That definition if fine but then when presented in a graph life format, various activities were listed along with time in x axis, y-axis format. To me, it doesn't make any sense because it's saying the activity at 0min is 8, activity at 10 min is 5, activity at 20 min is 3.17 etc.. I don't understand what this means.
Does it mean that for ex. by 10 min, 3 nuclei have decayed? if so, why would 4 nuclei have decayed by half life? I thought the decay rate could fluctuate and it doesn't have to follow a trend except by a certain half- live, number of nuclei left would be half of original?
Wouldn't this be less confusing to list "number of nuclei left vs time"?
I came across this term "activity" in text regarding radioactive decay and half lives. It is defined as "number of nuclei in a sample that decay within a given time."
That definition if fine but then when presented in a graph life format, various activities were listed along with time in x axis, y-axis format. To me, it doesn't make any sense because it's saying the activity at 0min is 8, activity at 10 min is 5, activity at 20 min is 3.17 etc.. I don't understand what this means.
Does it mean that for ex. by 10 min, 3 nuclei have decayed? if so, why would 4 nuclei have decayed by half life? I thought the decay rate could fluctuate and it doesn't have to follow a trend except by a certain half- live, number of nuclei left would be half of original?
Wouldn't this be less confusing to list "number of nuclei left vs time"?