Since naturally occurring uranium (U-238) has a half life of 4.5 billion years, then it means half of the uranium on earth has decayed into lead by now. But why only half, and why that specific half? What was special about the particles that did decay? Were they different in some way?
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Statistics. It’s not a ‘specific half’ that decays. It’s just that you statistically expect 50% of the uranium to decay after 4.5 billion years, based on the chance of any given uranium atom to decay within a year. You don’t know which half will decay, just that it’s likely to be very very close to half.
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