Chemist:___________________________________________________Pd:

______________Date:____________________
RadioactiveSkittlesLab

Partner:

_______________________________________Score:____/28
Question:WhatisthehalflifeofradioactiveSkittles?
Background:Radioactivedecayisaprocessinwhichanunstablenucleus
losesenergybyemittingradiation.Radioactiveisotopesareunstableatoms
thatdecomposespontaneouslyintodifferenttypesofnuclei.Theseatoms
decomposethroughvariousmeans,suchasalphadecay,betadecay,
positronemission,andelectroncapture.
Thedecayofatomstakesplaceatastatisticallydeterminedrate,called
thehalflife,whichisuniquetoeachtypeofradioactiveisotope.Halflifeis
theamountoftimeittakesforonehalfoftheatomsinasampleofa
radioactiveisotopetoemitradiationanddecayintoproducts.Forexample,if
wehavea10gramsofradioactivesample,wecanpredictthatafteronehalf
life,wellhave5gramsleft.Similarly,aftertwohalflives,only2.5gramsof
radioactivematerialwillremain.Ahalflifecanrangefromafractionofa
secondforelementslikepolonium214to4.5x109years(4,500,000,000)for
uranium238.Carbon14,whichisusedtodeterminetheageofanimaland
plantremains,hasahalflifeof5730years.
Radioactivedecayinvolvestheemissionofhighenergyradiationinthe
formofXraysandgammarays.Sincethisradiationisharmful,itisnot
practicalforustostudythehalflifeofarealradioactiveisotopeinourlab.
Therefore,wewilluseamodelofradioactivedecayinplaceofa
radioactiveisotope,wehaveaSkittle!
Procedure:

1.
ObtainabagofSkittlesfromyourinstructor.Donoteatany!Upon
completionofthelab,youcanshowyourinstructortoreceiveyour
CLEANcandy.
2.

Createadatatable.

3.

CountthenumberofSkittlesinthebag.Record.

4.

PutallradioactiveSkittlesinthecupandshake.

5.
Carefullypourskittlesoutontoplate.TheskittlesthathavetheS
sideup,havedecayedandarenolongerradioactive.Returnallnon
radioactiveSkittlestothebag.
6.
RecordthenumberofradioactiveSkittlesremaininginthedatatable
(foreveryshake10secondspass).
7.

Repeatsteps46untilallSkittleshavedecayed.

Data:(7points:1pointeachcolumnheading,3pointsfordatarecorded
incorrectcolumns,1pointforunitsshownthroughouttable)
Analysis:
1. (7points:5pointsforgraphincludinglabelsoneachaxis,title,plotted
points,correcttrendlinedrawn,1pointforhalflife,1pointforunits)

PrepareyourgraphofTimepassed(xaxis)versus#ofSkittles
remaining(yaxis).Ploteachdatapointbutdonotconnectthedotsusinga
straightline.Instead,fitthedatausingacurve(or,ifusingacomputer
spreadsheet,createanexponentialtrendline).Usingyourgraph,determine
theexacthalflife.
2.(2points:1pointwork,1pointanswerwithunits)

WhatisthehalflifeofradioactiveSkittlesforyourexperiment?
3.(2points:1pointwork,1pointanswerwithunits)
WhatisthehalflifeofradioactiveSkittlesfortheclassdata?
3.(1pointanswerwithunits)
WhatisthetheoreticalyieldforradioactiveSkittles?
4.(3points:1pointperquestion)
Wasyouraveragehalflifethesameastheclassaverage?Whichonewas
closertothetheoreticalvalue?Suggestsomereasonswhythedatamaybe
different.
5.A2000gsampleofradioactive131Ihadahalflifeof8days.
(a)(2points:1pointwork,1pointanswerwithunits)
Whatmassofradioactive131Iwillremainafter3halfliveshavepassed?
(b)(2points:1pointwork,1pointanswerwithunits)
Whatmassofradioactive131Iwillremainafter40days?
(c)(2points:1pointwork,1pointanswerwithunits)
Howmanyhalfliveswillpassbeforethe2000gsampleof131Iisreducedto
about1.0gram?