Nuclear Physics And Radioactivity Question 63

Question: A radioactive material decays by simultaneous emission of two particles with respective half lives 1620 and 810 years. The time (in years) after which one- fourth of the material remains is [IIT 1995; UPSEAT 2002]

Options:

A) 1080

B) 2430

C) 3240

D) 4860

Show Answer

Answer:

Correct Answer: A

Solution:

$ \lambda ={\lambda_{1}}+{\lambda_{2}}\Rightarrow \frac{1}{T}=\frac{1}{T_{1}}+\frac{1}{T_{2}} $
$ \therefore T=\frac{T_{1}T_{2}}{T_{1}+T_{2}}=\frac{810\times 1620}{810+1620}=540\ years $ Hence $ \frac{1}{4} $ th of material remain after 1080 years.