GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -One half-life is the time it takes for ½ of the parent isotopes present in a rock or bone or shell to decay to daughter isotopes. Parent isotopes decay to daughter isotopes at a steady, exponential rate that is constant for each pair. The shape of this curve is the same for the radioactive decay of all isotopes.

Detailed explanation-2: -An isotope’s half-life is the time it takes for half of the atoms of the parent isotope to change into atoms of the daughter isotope. For example if an isotope’s half-life is 1000 years, it will take 1000 years for half the amount of that parent isotope to change into daughter isotopes.

Detailed explanation-3: -The “half-life” of a sample of radioactive isotope is defined as the amount of time it takes for half of the nuclei in the sample to decay. For example, Carbon-14 is a naturally-occurring radioactive isotope of carbon, with a half-life of around 5700 years.

Detailed explanation-4: -Atoms of a parent radioactive isotope randomly decay into a daughter isotope. Over time the number of parent atoms decreases and the number of daughter atoms increases. Rutherford and Soddy (1902) discovered that the rate of decay of a radioactive isotope depends on the amount of the parent isotope remaining.

Detailed explanation-5: -After the passage of one half-life, 50% of the parent atoms have become daughter products. After two half-lives, 75% of the original parent atoms have been transformed into daughter products (thus, only 25% of the original parent atoms remain). After three half-lives, only 12.5% of the original parent atoms remain.