Skip to content

Course home

5.2.4a Half-life

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69

Question 68

A nucleus of carbon-14 has the nuclide notation shown.

^{14}_{6}\text{C}

a.

Determine the number of neutrons in a nucleus of carbon-14.

[1]

b.

State the sign of the charge and its magnitude (in terms of the elementary charge $e$ ) on a nucleus of carbon-14.

[2]

c.

Carbon-14 decays by emitting $β\beta$ -particles.

Select the two correct statements about $β\beta$ -particles from the list below:

$β\beta$ -particles are electromagnetic waves.
$β\beta$ -particles are fast-moving helium nuclei.
$β\beta$ -particles are fast-moving electrons.
$β\beta$ -particles can be stopped by a few millimetres of aluminium.
$β\beta$ -particles are stopped by a single sheet of paper.

[2]

d.

Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years. A sample contains $μg24\text{ }\mu\text{g}$ of carbon-14.

Calculate the time it takes until only $μg3.0\text{ }\mu\text{g}$ of carbon-14 are left in the sample.

[2]

Markscheme

5.2.4a Half-life Questions

IGCSE
Physics
5.2.4a Half-life

144 exam-style questions on CIE IGCSE Physics 5.2.4a Half-life. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

Question bank