Question
The half-life of uranium-238 is 4.5 × 10^9 years. The half-life of uranium-234 is 2.5 × 10^5 years. How many times greater us the half life of uranium-238 than that of uranium 234.
To find out how many times greater the half-life of uranium-238 is compared to uranium-234, we can divide the half-life of uranium-238 by the half-life of uranium-234.
\(\frac{(4.5 \times 10^9)}{(2.5 \times 10^5)} = \frac{(4.5)}{(2.5)} \times 10^{9-5} = 1.8 \times 10^4\)
Therefore, the half-life of uranium-238 is 18,000 times greater than that of uranium-234.