Search results
- DictionaryHalf-life/ˈhafˌlīf/
noun
- 1. the time taken for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original value: "iodine-131 has a half-life of 8.1 days"
Half-life (symbol t½) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable atoms survive. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential (or, rarely ...
People also ask
What is half life in radioactivity?
What is half life in chemistry?
What does half life mean in a sentence?
What is a half life example?
Learn the meaning of half-life as the time required for half of something to undergo a process, such as radioactive decay or elimination. See examples, synonyms, word history, and related entries.
Jun 18, 2024 · Half-life (t ½) is a fundamental concept in various scientific fields, particularly in physics, chemistry, and biology. It represents the time for half of a given quantity of a substance to transform into something else. Examples of processes that transform with a half-life include radioactive decay, a chemical reaction, or the elimination of ...
Half-life is the time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to decay. Learn how half-life varies for different types of decay, how to measure activity, and examples of half-lives for common isotopes.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Feb 20, 2022 · Nuclear decay is an example of a purely statistical process. A more precise definition of half-life is that each nucleus has a 50% chance of living for a time equal to one half-life \ (t_ {1/2}\). Thus, if \ (N\) is reasonably large, half of the original nuclei decay in a time of one half-life.
Aug 17, 2016 · What Is a Half-Life? Some types of atoms do a really weird thing—they spontaneously decay into other types of atoms. A bit more precisely, some unstable isotopes of certain atoms (meaning ...
Half-life definition: the time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate.. See examples of HALF-LIFE used in a sentence.
