Problem

In Problems 23–27, assume that the rate of decay of a radioactive substance is propo...

In Problems 23–27, assume that the rate of decay of a radioactive substance is proportional to the amount of the substance present. The half-life of a radioactive substance is the time it takes for one-half of the substance to disintegrate.

To see how sensitive the technique of carbon dating of Problem 25 is,

(a) Redo Problem 25 assuming the half-life of carbon-14 is 5550 yr.

(b) Redo Problem 25 assuming 3% of the original mass remains.

(c) If each of the figures in parts (a) and (b) represents a 1% error in measuring the two parameters of half-life and percent of mass remaining, to which parameter is the model more sensitive?

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Solutions For Problems in Chapter 3.2