All Problems

Radioactivity

Problem 6.229

A radionuclide A1A_{1} with decay constant λ1\lambda_{1} transforms into a radionuclide A2A_{2} with decay constant λ2\lambda_{2}. Assuming that at the initial moment the preparation contained only the radionuclide A1A_{1}, find: (a) the equation describing accumulation of the radionuclide A2A_{2} with time; (b) the time interval after which the activity of radionuclide A2A_{2} reaches the maximum value.

Reveal Answer
6.229. (a) N2(t)=N10λ1λ2λ1(eλ1teλ2t)N_{2}(t)=N_{10} \frac{\lambda_{1}}{\lambda_{2}-\lambda_{1}}\left(\mathrm{e}^{-\lambda_{1} t}-\mathrm{e}^{-\lambda_{2} t}\right) (b) tm=ln(λ1/λ2)λ1λjt_{m}=\frac{\ln \left(\lambda_{1} / \lambda_{2}\right)}{\lambda_{1}-\lambda_{j}}