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6.3 Nuclear equations and decay

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Question 5

A student uses 50 custom-made wooden cubes, each with exactly one face painted red, to model the radioactive decay of a sample of unstable nuclei.

They carry out the following method:

  1. Roll all 50 cubes onto a flat tray.
  2. Remove any cubes that land with the red face pointing upwards (representing decayed nuclei).
  3. Record the number of remaining cubes.
  4. Roll the remaining cubes.
  5. Repeat this process six more times.

State two improvements the student could make to this experiment to obtain more reliable or representative data.

[2]
Markscheme

6.3 Nuclear equations and decay Questions

  1. GCSE
  2. /Physics
  3. /6.3 Nuclear equations and decay

90 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Physics 6.3 Nuclear equations and decay, covering 6.3.1 Beta-minus and beta-plus decay, 6.3.2 Effects of decay on the nucleus, and 6.3.3 Balancing nuclear equations. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

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