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Radioactive Half Life

Total questions: 15

Worksheet time: 12mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

What is a becquerel (Bq)?

a)

One decay per second

b)

One decay per minute

c)

One decay per hour

2.

What is the half-life of a radioactive isotope?

a)

The time taken for the daughter nuclei to increase

b)

The time taken for the nucleus to decay

c)

The time taken for half the parent nuclei to decay

3.

Which radioactive isotopes is most suitable tracer to monitor blood flow in a heart?

a)

Americium-237

alpha , and a half-life of 78 minutes

b)

Technetium-99m

gamma, and a half-life of 6 hours

c)

Krypton-78

beta and a half-life of 10.7 years

4.

A radioactive source’s activity falls from 128 Bq to 8 Bq in 20 hours. What is it's half-life?

a)

5 hours

b)

10 hours

c)

30 minutes

5.

Which isotopes would be used in a machine for measuring paper thickness?

a)

An alpha source with a short half-life

b)

A beta source with a long half-life

c)

A gamma source with a long half-life

6.

What percentage of a polonium sample will remain after three half-lives?

a)

6.25%

b)

12.5%

c)

25%

7.

Living wood has a 14C activity of 120 Bq. Ancient wood has an activity of 30 Bq. The half-life of 14C is 5,730 years. Estimate the age of the ancient wood.

a)

5,730 years

b)

11,460 years

c)

17,190 years

8.

What isotope should be injected directly into cancer to treat it ?

a)

An alpha emitter with a short half-life

b)

A beta emitter with a short half-life

c)

A gamma emitter with a short half-life

9.

What is the best radioactive source for measuring the amount of crisps poured into packaging?

a)

A gamma source with a short half-life

b)

A beta source with a long half-life

c)

An alpha source with a short half-life

10.

A radioactive substance has a half-life of 30 minutes.

What fraction of the atoms will not have decayed after 1 hour?

a)

1/2

b)

1/4

c)

1/3

11.

A radioactive source has a 200 Bq count at 12:00. At 15:00, the count is 25 Bq. What is its half-life?

a)

60 minutes

b)

30 minutes

c)

15 minutes

12.

Iodine-131 contaminated rainwater has a count rate of 1200 Bq. The half-life of iodine-131 is 8 days. How many days it will take for the count rate to fall to 75 Bq.

a)

16 days

b)

24 days

c)

32 days

13.

Which of the three types of radiation is the most strongly ionising?

a)

alpha (α)

b)

beta (β)

c)

gamma (γ)

14.

Why are radioactive isotopes with 2 second half-lives not used as medical tracers?

a)

It would be too ionising

b)

It would decay before a scan could be taken

c)

It's too hazardous for the medical staff

15.

Why does alpha decay cause an atom to become a different element?

a)

The number of protons decrease

b)

The number of neutrons decrease

c)

The number of electrons decrease