Radioactive decay
23.2What the syllabus asks of you
- understand that fluctuations in count rate provide evidence for the random nature of radioactive decay
- understand that radioactive decay is both spontaneous and random
- define activity and decay constant, and recall and use A = λN
- define half-life
- use λ = 0.693 / t½
- understand the exponential nature of radioactive decay, and sketch and use the relationship x = x0e–λt, where x could represent activity, number of undecayed nuclei or received count rate
Read the notes first
Chapter 23: Radioactive decay
Drill this topic
All 42 questions on Radioactive decay, untimed — answer on paper, then mark yourself against the mark scheme.
Make a worksheet
Choose the years and how many questions, then print it with the answers on separate pages.
42 questions
These are structured questions, answered in working rather than by picking an option, so they are not listed here one by one. The drill above puts each in front of you with its mark scheme to check against.