Equation for nuclear decay

Physics and electronics discussion, revision, exam and homework help.

Announcements Posted on
Please change your TSR password 23-05-2013
Enter our travel-writing competition for the chance to win a Nikon 1 J3 camera 20-05-2013
IMPORTANT: You must wait until midnight (morning exams)/4.30AM (afternoon exams) to discuss Edexcel exams and until 1pm/6pm the following day for STEP and IB exams. Please read before posting, including for rules for practical and oral exams. 28-04-2013
Search Thread
Advanced Search
Sign in to Reply
  1. nazgul60's Avatar
    1 17-06-2012  17:18
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 128
    Equation for nuclear decay
    Activity = lambda x (N)

    My question is that is N always the inital number of atoms because in the edexcel revision book it states otherwise??

    Thanks
  2. Hazza616's Avatar
    2 17-06-2012  19:58
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 82
    Re: Equation for nuclear decay
    It is the number of atoms at the point where activity is the value you are using.

    That is. If the activity is 20 at the start, and lambda is 1, then N is 20. If you come back and the activity has fallen to 10, then N is 10.
Sign in to Reply
Search Thread
Advanced Search
Share this discussion:  
Useful resources

Articles:

Study Help rules and posting guidelinesStudy Help Member of the Month nominationsGuide to PhysicsPhysics revision notes in the TSR wikiIndex of useful Physics threadsPhysics resourcesPhysics websitesPhysics textbook reviewsRecommended Physics reading

Quick Link:

Unanswered Physics Threads

Groups associated with this forum:

View associated groups
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

This forum is moderated by:

The Student Room, Get Revising and Marked by Teachers are trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd.

Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. 806 8067 22

Registered Office: International House, Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XE

Shortcuts

Get Started

TSR Group

Using TSR

Info

Connect with TSR

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.