In a piece of rock from the Moon, the 87 Rb content is assayed to be 1.82 × 1010 atoms per gram of material and the 87Sr content is found to be 1.07 × 109 atoms per gram. (The relevant decay is 87 Rb → 87Sr + e−. The half-life of the decay is 4.8 × 1010 yr.) (a) Determine the age of the rock. (b) Could the material in the rock actually be much older? (c) What assumption is implicit in using the radioactive-dating method?
Radioactive decay
The emission of energy to produce ionizing radiation is known as radioactive decay. Alpha, beta particles, and gamma rays are examples of ionizing radiation that could be released. Radioactive decay happens in radionuclides, which are imbalanced atoms. This periodic table's elements come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Several of these kinds are stable like nitrogen-14, hydrogen-2, and potassium-40, whereas others are not like uranium-238. In nature, one of the most stable phases of an element is usually the most prevalent. Every element, meanwhile, has an unstable state. Unstable variants are radioactive and release ionizing radiation. Certain elements, including uranium, have no stable forms and are constantly radioactive. Radionuclides are elements that release ionizing radiation.
Artificial Radioactivity
The radioactivity can be simply referred to as particle emission from nuclei due to the nuclear instability. There are different types of radiation such as alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Along with these there are different types of decay as well.
In a piece of rock from the Moon, the 87 Rb content is assayed to be 1.82 × 1010 atoms per gram of material and the 87Sr content is found to be 1.07 × 109 atoms per gram. (The relevant decay is 87 Rb → 87Sr + e−. The half-life of the decay is 4.8 × 1010 yr.) (a) Determine the age of the rock. (b) Could the material in the rock actually be much older? (c) What assumption is implicit in using the radioactive-dating method?
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