16.7 Rate of Radioactive Decay (Video)

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This project was preformed to supply Libretext authors with videos on General Chemistry topics which can be used to enhance their projects. Also, these videos are meant to act as a learning resource for all General Chemistry students.

Video Topics

For radioactive decay the rate constant k is called the decay constant. All living things are in equilibrium with ¹⁴C in the atmosphere. When something dies it stops absorbing ¹⁴C and the present ¹⁴C starts to undergo beta decay. The half-life ¹⁴C decay is 5.73 x 10³ years. Rate of radioactive decay is measured in disintegrations per minute per gram (d/min•g). In living things ¹⁴C activity is measured to be 14 (d/min•g). This video contains an example problem where carbon dating is used to predict the age of an item.

Link to Video

Rate of Radioactive Decay: https://youtu.be/YSKtRMQN5qg

Attribution

Prof. Steven Farmer (Sonoma State University)