What is the reason radioactive decay is measured in half-life’s instead of just using the elements “full-life”?

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Is there something special about the halfway point? Does the decay happen at a steady pace or exponentially?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

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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