If you have 400g of substance x, x has a half life of 20 seconds, after 1 minute, how much is left?

The equation for the half life of a substance is:



Where N is your final amount of substance, N_o the initial amount, t your time, t_0.5 your half life.

This is more of a math or physics question than astronomy, but I'll take a shot at it:

If the half life is 20 seconds, that means that in each 20-second interval half of what you started with at the beginnng ofthat inerval is gone. So you start with 400g at T= 0 seconds, and at T=20 seconds you would have halfof 400g, or 200g left. 20 seconds later, at T=40 you would have half of the 200g, or 100g. Can you take it from here - how much material is left at T=60 seconds?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Unknown008

The equation for the half life of a substance is:



Where N is your final amount of substance, N_o the initial amount, t your time, t_0.5 your half life.

---

I think you need to divide by - not multiply.

Sorry, I realised my mistake a little late, I fixed it before you posted :o

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ebaines

This is more of a math or physics question than astronomy, but I'll take a shot at it:

If the half life is 20 seconds, that means that in each 20-second interval half of what you started with at the beginnng ofthat inerval is gone. So you start with 400g at T= 0 seconds, and at T=20 seconds you would have halfof 400g, or 200g left. 20 seconds later, at T=40 you would have half of the 200g, or 100g. Can you take it from here - how much material is left at T=60 seconds?

---

Thank you very much