SF026: PAST YEAR PSPM QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 13: RADIOACTIVITY

PSPM II 2005/2006 NO. 8
8. (a) Define the half-life of a radioactive element.
(b) Carbon dating on a human remains shows the activity of carbon-14 is 0.068 per gram
of carbon. The initial activity of carbon-14 is 0.231 per gram of carbon and the half-life is
5730 years. Calculate the age of the remains. [Ans: = = . ]
[4 marks]
PSPM II 2005/2006 NO. 14(B)
14 (b) Isotope 210
84 of mass 1.2 is used in a battery as its power source. It has a half-life of
140 days and emits -particles, each of which has energy 5.3 . After 100 days, calculate
(i) The remaining mass [Ans: = . ]
(ii) The total energies of -particles [Ans: = . = . ]
(iii) The average power produced. [Ans: = ]
[8 marks]
PSPM II 2006/2007 NO. 14(A),(B)
14. (a) Define
(i) decay constant.
(ii) half-life.
[2 marks]
(b) The activity of a radioisotope is 6 1010 . If 25% of the radioisotope decays in 5 days,
calculate
(i) the decay constant. [Ans: = . ]
(ii) the half-life of the radioisotope. [Ans: = . = . ]

(iii) the initial number of the nuclei. [Ans: = . ]

(iv) the time taken for the radioisotope to reduce to 1012 nuclei. [Ans: =
. = . ]
[8 marks]
PSPM II 2007/2008 NO. 8(B)
8. (b) How are radioisotopes used as tracers in medicine?
[3 marks]

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SF026: PAST YEAR PSPM QUESTIONS

PSPM II 2007/2008 NO. 14(D)
14. (d)

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4 shows the decay curve of a radioactive sample.
(i) Determine the decay constant. [Ans: = . ]
(ii) Write an equation representing the decay curve in FIGURE 4. [Ans: =

( )(. ) ]
(iii) Calculate the initial number of the nuclei in the sample. [Ans: = .
]
[5 marks]
PSPM II 2008/2009 NO. 14
14. (a) The 31 nuclei decay equation is given by
3
3
1 2 + +
Where is an anti-neutrino.
(i) What is X? [Ans: or or Beta-particle]
(ii) What is the nucleon transformation that occurs during the decay process? [Ans:
neutron proton]
(iii) Write an equation representing the disintegration of 31 nuclei over time. [Ans:

= or = with defined symbols]

(iv) Calculate the mass of 31 that has an activity of 500 if the half-life is
18 . [Ans: = . ]
[7 marks]

(b) (i) Which of the following elements are isotopes? Justify your answer. [Ans: and ]
13
15
14
14
7
6
8
6
(ii) With the aid of a diagram, explain the working principle of the Bainbridge mass
spectrometer to identify isotopes.
[8 marks]

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SF026: PAST YEAR PSPM QUESTIONS

PSPM II 2009/2010 NO. 14(D)
14. (d) Iodine isotope with half-life 8 days and mass number 131 is used in a thyroid diagnosis.
If a patient ingested 600 of the isotope, calculate the activity of the isotope immediately
after ingestion. [Ans: = . ]
[7 marks]
PSPM II 2010/2011 NO. 14(C),(D)

14. (c) The number of radioactive decay per second, and the number of remaining nuclei,
is given by the decay law.
(i) Derive the decay law.
(ii) Sketch a graph of against on the same axis for different values of 1 and 2
where 2 < 1 .
[5 marks]
(d) A radioisotope has an initial activity 9 . After 16 hours, its activity reduces to 7 .
Calculate
(i) the half-life of the isotope. [Ans: = . @ . ]

(ii)

the initial number of nuclei. [Ans: = . ]

[4 marks]

PSPM II 2011/2012 NO. 8(B),(C)

8. (b) Show that the radioactive decay equation can be written as

1
= 0 ( )
2
where 0 is the initial number of nuclei, is the number of remaining nuclei, is the decay
time, and is the half-life.
[3 marks]
211
211
9
(c) A sample of 83 contains 2.00 10 nuclei. Given the half-life of 83 is 2.14 minutes,
calculate
(i) the initial activity in decays per second. [Ans: = . ]
(ii) the number of the nuclei remaining after 42.8 . [Ans: = . ]
[5 marks]
PSPM II 2012/2013 NO. 8(B),(C)
8. (b) (i)
(ii)

State the properties of particles emitted during radioactive decay.

State the risk arises from radioactive particles.

[2 marks]
(c) The activity of a sample of radon-222 is 200 . The half-life of radon is 3.8 .
(i) Calculate the decay constant of radon-222. [Ans: = . = .
]
(ii) Calculate the number of radon-222 atoms in the sample. [Ans: = .
]
(iii) How long does it take for the activity to decrease to 60 ? [Ans: = . ]
[6 marks]

PCH

SF026: PAST YEAR PSPM QUESTIONS

PSPM II 2013/2014 NO. 8(C)
8. (c) A prepared sample of radioactive isotope has an activity of 10.0 . After 4 , the
activity is 8.0 . Calculate the
(i) half-life of the isotope. [Ans: = . = ]
(ii) number of the isotope in the prepared sample. [Ans: = . ]
(iii) sample activity 30 after it is prepared. [Ans: = . =
. = . ]
(Given 1 = 3.7 1010 )
[6 marks]
PSPM II 2014/2015 NO. 8(A)
8. (a) Iodine-131 is among the radioactive isotopes leaked from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The half-life of
the iodine-131 nucleus is 8.0197 days. If a sample initially contains 3.00 1016 iodine-131
nuclei, calculate the
(i) decay constant. [Ans: = . ]
(ii) initial activity. [Ans: = . ]
(iii) Activity after 20 days. [Ans: = . ]
[5 marks]

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