If the half-life of a radionuclide is 1 month, is a sample of it completely decayed after 2 months?
How does the number of neutrons in a stable nucleus compare with the number of protons?
Yes both would be decayed
No, a sample of a radionuclide is not completely decayed after 2 months if its half-life is 1 month.
The concept of half-life refers to the time it takes for half of the radioactive sample to decay. After the first half-life, half of the original sample will decay, leaving behind half of the original amount. After the second half-life, half of that remaining sample will decay again, leaving behind another half of the previous amount.
In this case, after 1 month (the first half-life), half of the radionuclide will decay, leaving behind 50% of the original amount. After the second month (the second half-life), another half of the remaining sample will decay, leaving behind 25% of the original amount.
The decay process continues, with each half-life reducing the remaining amount by half. However, it is never completely decayed, as there will always be a small amount remaining, no matter how long the time period.
To determine if a sample of a radionuclide is completely decayed after a certain period of time, you can calculate the number of half-lives that have passed.
In this case, the half-life of the radionuclide is 1 month. After the first month, half of the original sample would have decayed, leaving half of the original amount. After the second month, another half of the remaining sample would decay.
So, after 2 months, two half-lives have passed. This means that the remaining sample would be reduced to one-fourth (1/2 * 1/2) of the original amount, and three-fourths (1 - 1/4) would have decayed. Therefore, the sample is not completely decayed after 2 months.