Half-Life
Half-life is the time it takes for half of a sample of a radioactive substance to decay into a more stable form. For example, if you start with 100 grams of a radioactive material, after one half-life, you would have 50 grams remaining; the rest would have transformed into other elements or isotopes. Each radioactive isotope has its own unique half-life, which can range from fractions of a second to billions of years. This concept helps us understand the stability of substances and is crucial in fields like nuclear medicine, archaeology, and geology.
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Half-life is the time it takes for half of a substance to decay or transform into another element or compound. This concept is widely used in fields like physics, chemistry, and medicine, particularly in understanding radioactive materials or the effectiveness of drugs in the body. For example, if a radioactive element has a half-life of 10 years, after 10 years, half of the original amount will remain. After another 10 years, only a quarter will be left. Understanding half-life helps in estimating how long substances will last or how long they take to lose their potency.