Half Life Calculator - Calculatorall.com
The half life calculator is used for determining different values related to half-life of any decaying substance. Half life, basically, refers to the time required for a certain quantity to decrease by half of the initial value. More often than not, half life is used while referring to the atoms that undergo radioactive decay. However, it can also be used for describing different other decay types, be it exponential decay or something else.
Given below are three equivalent formulas that describe exponential decay:
Half Life Calculator
Half Life, Mean Lifetime, and Decay Constant Conversion
Carbon-14 dating is one of well-known half-life applications. Carbon-14's half-life is around 5730 years which makes it a reliable option for measuring dates around 50000 years ago. It was William Libby who developed the carbon-14 dating process considering the fact that this form of carbon is being made constantly in our atmosphere. Photosynthesis is the process that brings it into plants while animals acquire it by consuming those same plants. The radioactive decay of carbon-14 starts after that animal or plant dies, and if you measure carbon-14 amount in given sample, it conveys information on exactly when that animal or plant died.
where N0 refers to initial quantity
Nt refers to remaining quantity after a given time, t
t1/2 refers to the half-life
Τ refers to mean lifetime
Λ refers to decay constant
If archaeologists find fossil samples having 25 percent of carbon-14 as compared to living samples, it can be helpful in determining the death of that fossil sample by rearranging the first equation, as you know Nt, N0, and t1/2.
Λ refers to decay constant If archaeologists find fossil samples having 25 percent of carbon-14 as compared to living samples, it can be helpful in determining the death of that fossil sample by rearranging the first equation, as you know Nt, N0, and t1/2.
So, what this reveals is that the fossil in question is 11,460 years old.
How This Half Life Calculator Works?
Basically, there are two calculators on this page. The first half life calculator requires you to give any three values out of initial quantity, quantity remains, time and half life. As soon as you click calculate after entering all the required values, the calculator will show you the fourth automatically.
The second half life calculator on the page, basically, deals with half life, decay constant and mean lifetime. You have to enter just one of these three values and the calculator does the rest for you. It shows you the results for all three of them based on the value that you have provided. .