What is Radioactive Half-Life – Physical Half-Life – Definition

One of the most useful terms for estimating how quickly a nuclide will decay is the radioactive half-life (t1/2). The half-life is defined as the amount of time it takes for a given isotope to lose half of its radioactivity. Periodic Table

table half-livesOne of the most useful terms for estimating how quickly a nuclide will decay is the radioactive half-life (t1/2). The half-life is defined as the amount of time it takes for a given isotope to lose half of its radioactivity. As was written, radioactive decay is a random process at the level of single atoms, in that, according to quantum theory, it is impossible to predict when a particular atom will decay. In other words, a nucleus of a radionuclide has no “memory”. A nucleus does not “age” with the passage of time. Thus, the probability of its breaking down does not increase with time, but stays constant no matter how long the nucleus has existed.

Therefore, the rate of nuclear decay can be also measured in terms of half-lives. Each radionuclide has its own particular half-life that never changes, regardless of the quantity or form of the material (i.e., solid, liquid, gas, element or compound) or its past history. If a radioisotope has a half-life of 14 days, half of its atoms will have decayed within 14 days. In 14 more days, half of that remaining half will decay, and so on.

Half lives range from millionths of a second for highly radioactive fission products to billions of years for long-lived materials (such as naturally occurring uranium). After five half-lives have elapsed, only 1/32, or 3.1%, of the original number of atoms remains. After seven half-lives, only 1/128, or 0.78%, of the atoms remains. The number of atoms existing after 5 to 7 half-lives can usually be assumed to be negligible.

The fraction of the original activity remaining after succeeding half-lives is:

Activity after 1 half-life = ½ of the original

Activity after 2 half-lives = ½ x ½ = ¼ of the original

Activity after 3 half-lives = ½ x ½ x ½ = (½)3 = 1/8 of the original

Activity after 4 half-lives = (½)4 = 1/16 of the original

Activity after 5 half-lives = (½)5 = 1/32 of the original

Activity after 6 half-lives = (½)6 = 1/64 of the original

Activity after 7 half-lives = (½)7 = 1/128 of the original

radioactivity - half-livesNotice that short half lives go with large decay constants. Radioactive material with a short half life is much more radioactive (at the time of production) but will obviously lose its radioactivity rapidly. No matter how long or short the half life is, after seven half lives have passed, there is less than 1 percent of the initial activity remaining.

The radioactive decay law states that the probability per unit time that a nucleus will decay is a constant, independent of time. This constant is called the decay constant and is denoted by λ, “lambda”. This constant probability may vary greatly between different types of nuclei, leading to the many different observed decay rates. The radioactive decay of certain number of atoms (mass) is exponential in time.

Radioactive decay law: N = N.e-λt

The rate of nuclear decay is also measured in terms of half-lives. The half-life is the amount of time it takes for a given isotope to lose half of its radioactivity. If a radioisotope has a half-life of 14 days, half of its atoms will have decayed within 14 days. In 14 more days, half of that remaining half will decay, and so on. Half lives range from millionths of a second for highly radioactive fission products to billions of years for long-lived materials (such as naturally occurring uranium). Notice that short half lives go with large decay constants. Radioactive material with a short half life is much more radioactive (at the time of production) but will obviously lose its radioactivity rapidly. No matter how long or short the half life is, after seven half lives have passed, there is less than 1 percent of the initial activity remaining.

The radioactive decay law can be derived also for activity calculations or mass of radioactive material calculations:

(Number of nuclei) N = N.e-λt     (Activity) A = A.e-λt      (Mass) m = m.e-λt

, where N (number of particles) is the total number of particles in the sample, A (total activity) is the number of decays per unit time of a radioactive sample, m is the mass of remaining radioactive material.

Half-Life and Decay Constant

In calculations of radioactivity one of two parameters (decay constant or half-life), which characterize the rate of decay, must be known. There is a relation between the half-life (t1/2) and the decay constant λ. The relationship can be derived from decay law by setting N = ½ No. This gives:

where ln 2 (the natural log of 2) equals 0.693. If the decay constant (λ) is given, it is easy to calculate the half-life, and vice-versa.

Half-Life and Radioactivity

The relationship between half-life and the amount of a radionuclide required to give an activity of one curie is shown in the figure. This amount of material can be calculated using λ, which is the decay constant of certain nuclide:

Curie - Unit of Activity

Radioactivity - CurieThe following figure illustrates the amount of material necessary for 1 curie of radioactivity. It is obvious, that the longer the half-life, the greater the quantity of radionuclide needed to produce the same activity. Of course, the longer lived substance will remain radioactive for a much longer time. As can be seen, the amount of material necessary for 1 curie of radioactivity can vary from an amount too small to be seen (0.00088 gram of cobalt-60), through 1 gram of radium-226, to almost three tons of uranium-238.

radioactivity - half-lives - decay constants

Example – Radioactive Decay Law

Iodine 131 - decay schemeA sample of material contains 1 mikrogram of iodine-131. Note that, iodine-131 plays a major role as a radioactive isotope present in nuclear fission products, and it a major contributor to the health hazards when released into the atmosphere during an accident. Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8.02 days.

Calculate:

  1. The number of iodine-131 atoms initially present.
  2. The activity of the iodine-131 in curies.
  3. The number of iodine-131 atoms that will remain in 50 days.
  4. The time it will take for the activity to reach 0.1 mCi.

Solution:

  1. The number of atoms of iodine-131 can be determined using isotopic mass as below.

NI-131 = mI-131 . NA / MI-131

NI-131 = (1 μg) x (6.02×1023 nuclei/mol) / (130.91 g/mol)

NI-131 = 4.6 x 1015 nuclei

  1. The activity of the iodine-131 in curies can be determined using its decay constant:

The iodine-131 has half-live of 8.02 days (692928 sec) and therefore its decay constant is:

Using this value for the decay constant we can determine the activity of the sample:

3) and 4) The number of iodine-131 atoms that will remain in 50 days (N50d) and the time it will take for the activity to reach 0.1 mCi can be calculated using the decay law:

As can be seen, after 50 days the number of iodine-131 atoms and thus the activity will be about 75 times lower. After 82 days the activity will be approximately 1200 times lower. Therefore, the time of ten half-lives (factor 210 = 1024) is widely used to define residual activity.

Biological Half-Life

In general, the biological half-life is the time taken for the amount of a particular element in the body to decrease to half of its initial value due to elimination by biological processes alone, when the rate of removal is roughly exponential. The biological half-live (tbiological) can be defined for  metabolites, drugs, and other substances. It is also very important in radiation protection, when considering internal exposure.

If the source of radiation is inside our body, we say, it is internal exposure. The intake of radioactive material can occur through various pathways such as ingestion of radioactive contamination in food or liquids, inhalation of radioactive gases, or through intact or wounded skin. Most radionuclides will give you much more radiation dose if they can somehow enter your body, than they would if they remained outside. The biological half-life depends on the rate at which the body normally uses a particular compound of an element. Radioactive isotopes that were ingested or taken in through other pathways will gradually be removed from the body via bowels, kidneys, respiration and perspiration. This means that a radioactive substance can be expelled before it has had the chance to decay.

As a result, the biological half-life significantly influences the overall dose from internal contamination. If a radioactive compound with radioactive half-life (t1/2) is cleared from the body with a biological half-life tb, the “effective’’ half-life (te) is given by the expression:

As can be seen, the biological mechanisms always decreases the overall dose from internal contamination.  Moreover, if t1/2 is large in comparison to tb, the effective half-life is approximately the same as tb. For example, tritium has the biological half-life about 10 days, while the radioactive half-life is about 12 years.

See also: Biological Half-Life

See also: Effective Half-Life

References:

Radiation Protection:

  1. Knoll, Glenn F., Radiation Detection and Measurement 4th Edition, Wiley, 8/2010. ISBN-13: 978-0470131480.
  2. Stabin, Michael G., Radiation Protection and Dosimetry: An Introduction to Health Physics, Springer, 10/2010. ISBN-13: 978-1441923912.
  3. Martin, James E., Physics for Radiation Protection 3rd Edition, Wiley-VCH, 4/2013. ISBN-13: 978-3527411764.
  4. U.S.NRC, NUCLEAR REACTOR CONCEPTS
  5. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.

Nuclear and Reactor Physics:

  1. J. R. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1983).
  2. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.
  3. W. M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN: 0- 471-39127-1.
  4. Glasstone, Sesonske. Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, Springer; 4th edition, 1994, ISBN: 978-0412985317
  5. W.S.C. Williams. Nuclear and Particle Physics. Clarendon Press; 1 edition, 1991, ISBN: 978-0198520467
  6. G.R.Keepin. Physics of Nuclear Kinetics. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co; 1st edition, 1965
  7. Robert Reed Burn, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Operation, 1988.
  8. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
  9. Paul Reuss, Neutron Physics. EDP Sciences, 2008. ISBN: 978-2759800414.

See also:

Decay Law

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