![]() |
|
Math General Math Forum - For general math related discussion and news |
![]() |
| LinkBack | Thread Tools | Display Modes |
January 17th, 2017, 05:10 PM | #1 |
Newbie Joined: Jan 2017 From: Warrington Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 | Exponential Decay
The equation for exponential decay is N = N0 e^(-at) where N is the population at time t and N0 the amount at time t = 0. Find the age t , if an initial population of 14C atoms has decayed to 0.1% of its original amount and the decay parameter a is 1.226 × 10-4 y-1. Any suggestions/agreement on the answer to this question. Please note that the 'a' is supposed to be an alpha symbol, although an 'a' does the same job. I have an answer of 56344 years, although I'm doubting this answer as this just about on the borderline of the maximum age for carbon dating. Thanks in advance. ![]() |
![]() |
January 17th, 2017, 05:23 PM | #2 |
Math Team Joined: Jul 2011 From: Texas Posts: 2,815 Thanks: 1458 |
works fine for me ... if they really detected a 0.1% carbon 14 level $N = N_0 e^{-at}$ 100% of $C_{14}$ at $t = 0$ $0.1 = 100 e^{-at}$ $0.001 = e^{-at}$ $\ln(0.001) = -at$ $t = \dfrac{\ln(0.001)}{-a} = \dfrac{\ln(0.001)}{-1.226 \times 10^{-4}} = 56344$ years |
![]() |
![]() |
|
Tags |
decay, exponential, math |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
![]() | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Exponential Growth and Decay Help | swm06 | Algebra | 2 | April 6th, 2013 04:22 PM |
Logarithm and exponential decay | lechatelier | Algebra | 5 | June 4th, 2012 11:37 PM |
Exponential Growth and Decay | MathsBeforeBedtime | Algebra | 2 | May 21st, 2011 07:36 AM |
exponential decay problem | the_liong | Calculus | 1 | October 17th, 2009 06:03 AM |
Exponential Growth and Decay | symmetry | Algebra | 1 | April 22nd, 2007 07:20 AM |