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A pure sample of radioactive nuclide X decays into a stable nuclide Y.What is number of atoms of Ynumber of atoms of X after two half-lives

Question

A pure sample of radioactive nuclide X decays into a stable nuclide Y.

What is the number of atoms of Y / number of atoms of X after two half-lives?

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Solution

After one half-life, half of the atoms of the radioactive nuclide X have decayed into the stable nuclide Y. This means that the number of X atoms has decreased to half, and the number of Y atoms is now equal to half the original number of X atoms.

After two half-lives, half of the remaining X atoms decay. This means that the number of X atoms is now one quarter of the original amount. The number of Y atoms is now three quarters of the original number of X atoms.

So, the ratio of the number of Y atoms to the number of X atoms after two half-lives is 3:1.

This problem has been solved

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