
An isotope of an element is radioactive. Explain what is meant by radioactive decay.
At time
, a sample of a radioactive isotope contains
nuclei. In a short time
, the number of nuclei that decay is
. State expressions, in terms of the symbols
,
,
and
for
the number of undecayed nuclei at time (
),
the mean activity of the sample during the time interval
,
the probability of decay of a nucleus during the time interval
,
the decay constant.