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.
How many grams of carbon will it have after 5,700 years?
(1 point)
Responses
10 grams
10 grams
5 grams
5 grams
40 grams
40 grams
2 grams
2 grams
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The sample of wood will have 10 grams of carbon-14 after 5,700 years.
To calculate the number of grams of carbon-14 the sample of wood will have after 5,700 years, we need to use the concept of half-life. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, which means that after each half-life, the amount of carbon-14 in the sample will be reduced by half.
Since the initial amount of carbon-14 in the sample is 20 grams, after one half-life of 5,700 years, the sample will have 10 grams of carbon-14 remaining.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
- 10 grams
To find the number of grams of carbon-14 in the sample after 5,700 years, 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 carbon-14 in a sample decays.
Since the sample initially has 20 grams of carbon-14 when it is alive, after the first half-life (5,700 years), it will have half of that amount, which is 10 grams.
Now, if we continue for another 5,700 years, after the second half-life, the sample will have half of the remaining 10 grams, which is 5 grams.
Therefore, after 5,700 years, the sample will have 5 grams of carbon-14.
So the correct answer is: 5 grams.