How do scientists know the half life of a substance when the half life is longer than the time we have known about the substance?
In: Physics
Math!
The half-life is constant so by measuring how much stuff you have at time A and how much stuff you have at time B you can solve for the half life
If I have a blob of substance X which gives off 100,000 beta particles per hour at the beginning bit only 99,900 per hour 10 days later then you can solve for the half-life
Amount at time B = Amount at time A x e^(-(time difference)/half life
Since we have the amount at time B (99,900) and at time A (100,000) and we know the time difference is 10 days then Wolfram tells me the half-life is 9995 days or about 27 years
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