the half-life of tritium is 12.26 y
what would be the decay of tritium atoms per second in 1.00 L of hydrogen gas at STP containing 0.15% tritium atoms ?
*what would be the rate of decay of tritium
To calculate the decay of tritium atoms per second, we need to work through the following steps:
Step 1: Find the number of tritium atoms in 1.00 L of hydrogen gas at STP containing 0.15% tritium atoms.
Since the percentage of tritium atoms is given as 0.15%, we can multiply it by the total number of hydrogen atoms in 1.00 L at STP, which is approximately Avogadro's number (6.022 × 10^23):
Number of tritium atoms = (0.15/100) × Avogadro's number
Step 2: Calculate the decay constant.
The decay constant (lambda) is determined by the formula: lambda = 0.693 / half-life.
So, lambda = 0.693 / 12.26
Step 3: Determine the decay of tritium atoms per second.
The decay rate (decay per second) can be calculated using the equation: decay rate = lambda × number of tritium atoms.
decay rate = lambda × (0.15/100) × Avogadro's number.
Now we can plug in the values and solve the equation to find the decay of tritium atoms per second.