Po-218 is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 3.0 minutes. If a sample contains 69 mg of Po-218, how many alpha emissions would occur in 6.0 minutes?

the answer has to be _________a emmisions (which I have no idea what it means)
and I use a chart thing with amount, #H-L, and time passed as the collums.

To find the number of alpha emissions that would occur in 6.0 minutes, we need to understand the concept of half-life and apply it to the given information.

First, let me explain what "alpha emissions" mean. An alpha emission refers to the release of an alpha particle during radioactive decay. An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons, which is essentially a helium nucleus. When an alpha particle is emitted from a radioactive nucleus, the atomic number of the element decreases by two.

Now let's proceed with calculating the number of alpha emissions:

1. Start by constructing a chart with columns labeled "Amount," "#H-L" (number of half-lives), and "Time Passed."

Amount (#H-L) Time Passed
69 mg 0 0 min

2. The half-life of Po-218 is given as 3.0 minutes. In each half-life, the amount of the substance is reduced to half its initial value.

In our case, the initial amount is 69 mg, so the amount after one half-life (3.0 minutes) would be 69 mg / 2 = 34.5 mg.

3. Add another row to the chart with the updated information after one half-life:

Amount (#H-L) Time Passed
69 mg 0 0 min
34.5 mg 1 3 min

4. Continue this process until the total time is 6.0 minutes:

After two half-lives (6.0 minutes total), the amount would be 34.5 mg / 2 = 17.25 mg.

Amount (#H-L) Time Passed
69 mg 0 0 min
34.5 mg 1 3 min
17.25 mg 2 6 min

5. Now, let's calculate the number of alpha emissions. Each time the amount is reduced to half, it means one alpha emission has occurred.

In this case, we started with 69 mg and ended with 17.25 mg after two half-lives, so there would be two alpha emissions.

Therefore, the answer is 2 alpha emissions would occur in 6.0 minutes.

To summarize:
- Construct a chart to keep track of the amount, number of half-lives, and time passed.
- Use the initial amount to calculate subsequent amounts after each half-life.
- Count the number of times the amount is halved to find the number of alpha emissions.

I hope this explanation helps you understand the process of determining the number of alpha emissions.

I would do something like this.

(Number of half lives = 6/3 = 2.)
2nn = 26/3 = 22 = 4 and
69 mg/4 = 17.25 Po atoms remain. The mass that emitted must be 69mg-17.25mg = 51.75 mg or 0.05175 grams.
I would change that to moles (moles = grams/molar mass) and remember that 1 mole of atoms contains 6.022 x 10^23 atoms.
So moles x 6.022 x 10^23 = ??number of alpha emissions.