For instance, the biological half-life of metabolites. The concept if half-life can also be used to characterize some exponential decay. This shows the variation in the half-life of different elements. Uranium-233 has a half-life of about 160000 years, on the other hand.
The half-life of carbon-10, for example, is only 19 seconds, so it is impossible to find this isotope in nature.
Half-life is defined as the time needed to undergo its decay process for half of the unstable nuclei.Įach radioactive element has a different half life decay time. Unstable nuclei are radioactive decay and emit alpha, beta, or gamma-rays that eventually decay to stable nuclei while stable nuclei of a radioactive don’t change. There are stable and unstable nuclei in each radioactive element. Half-life is a concept widely used in chemistry, physics, biology, and pharmacology. It can be used to calculate the half-life of a radioactive element, the time elapsed, initial quantity, and remaining quantity of an element.
The Half-Life calculator can be used to understand the radioactive decay principles.