Use this paragraph: The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years. A certain sample of wood has 20 grams of carbon-14 when it is alive. And why is that answer true?
How many grams of carbon will it have after 5,700 years?
(1 point)
Responses
2 grams
2 grams
10 grams
10 grams
5 grams
5 grams
40 grams
2 grams
The half-life of carbon-14 is the time it takes for half of the carbon-14 in a sample to decay. In this case, after 5,700 years, half of the carbon-14 would have decayed, leaving 10 grams of carbon-14. After another 5,700 years, half of that remaining carbon-14 would decay again, leaving 5 grams. Therefore, after 5,700 years, the sample of wood would have 10 grams of carbon-14.
To determine the number of grams of carbon-14 that a sample of wood will have after 5,700 years, you need to use the concept of half-life. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, which means that after this amount of time, half of the carbon-14 in the sample will have decayed.
Since the sample starts with 20 grams of carbon-14, after one half-life (5,700 years), it will have half of that amount, which is 10 grams. Therefore, the correct answer is 10 grams.
To find the answer to this question, we can use the concept of half-life. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, which means that after every 5,700 years, half of the initial amount of carbon-14 will decay.
Initially, the sample of wood has 20 grams of carbon-14. After 5,700 years, half of this amount will decay, leaving us with 10 grams of carbon-14. Therefore, the correct answer is 10 grams.