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Two radioactive substance A and B have decay constants 5 \lambda and \lambda, respectively. At t=0 they have the same number of nuclei. The ratio of number of nuclei of A to those of B will be \left(\frac{1}{e}\right)^2 after a time interval:

Option: 1

\frac{1}{4 \lambda}


Option: 2

4 \lambda


Option: 3

2 \lambda


Option: 4

\frac{1}{2 \lambda}


Answers (1)

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Number of nuclei remained after time t can be written as

\mathrm{N}=\mathrm{N}_0 \mathrm{e}^{-\lambda \mathrm{t}}

Where, \mathrm{N}_0  is initial number of nuclei of both the substances 

        \mathrm{N}_1=\mathrm{N}_0 \mathrm{e}^{-5 \lambda \mathrm{t}}                          (i)

and  \mathrm{N}_2=\mathrm{N}_0 \mathrm{e}^{-\lambda \mathrm{t}}                           (ii)

On dividing eq. (i) by eq. (ii), we get

\frac{N_1}{N_2}=e^{(-5 \lambda+\lambda) t}=e^{-4 \lambda t}=\frac{1}{e^{4 \lambda t}}

But, we have given

\frac{\mathrm{N}_1}{\mathrm{~N}_2}=\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{e}}\right)^2=\frac{1}{\mathrm{e}^2}

Comparing the powers, we get

2=4 \lambda \mathrm{t} \Rightarrow \mathrm{t}=\frac{2}{4 \pi}=\frac{1}{2 \lambda}

 

 

 

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Riya

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