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In Physics / High School | 2014-06-30

The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years. How many grams of parent material will remain from a 120-gram sample of carbon-14 after 2 half-lives?

Asked by Wgonzalez

Answer (2)

After 2 half lives, one half of one half of the original material remains. That's one fourth.
One fourth of 120 grams is 30 grams remaining.

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

After 2 half-lives of Carbon-14, which is 5,730 years each, 30 grams will remain from an original sample of 120 grams. This is calculated by halving the amount twice, first to 60 grams after the first half-life and then to 30 grams after the second. Therefore, the final amount of Carbon-14 left will be 30 grams.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-12-24