Iodine-131 is a radioactive substance that decays at a rate of 8.3% every day. If a sample contains x grams of iodine-131 after 2 days, how much iodine-131 will it contain after 6 days?
To calculate how much iodine-131 will be present after 6 days, we first need to determine how much remains after 2 days.
After 1 day, the sample will have decayed by 8.3%, leaving (100% - 8.3%) = 91.7% of the sample remaining.
After 2 days, the sample will have decayed by another 8.3%, leaving (91.7% - 8.3%) = 83.4% of the sample remaining.
So after 2 days, the sample will contain 83.4% of the original x grams of iodine-131.
Now, to find out how much iodine-131 will be present after 6 days, we need to calculate the remaining amount after another 4 days.
After each day, the sample decays by 8.3%, so after 4 more days, the sample will have decayed by 8.3% * 4 = 33.2%.
Therefore, after 6 days, the sample will contain (83.4% - 33.2%) = 50.2% of the original x grams of iodine-131.
So, after 6 days, the sample will contain 50.2% of x grams of iodine-131.
Therefore, the sample will contain 0.502x grams of iodine-131 after 6 days.