the full-life for any radioactive substance is dependent on the amount of the substance and is indefinite.
the half-life is constant.
the decay happens randomly but follows the rule that within the half-life probabistically half of the substance will decay. with large numbers of atoms of the substance this is a near absolute rule. with a few atoms it’s a crap shoot.
eg if I have a 1kg block of U235, I know that in 700 million years i’ll have 500grams left, another 700 millions years and i’ll have 250grams, but if I have 1 atom of U235 I might have to wait ’til the end of the universe before it decays.
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