Name: ____________________

Date: _______________

Science 10: Half Life Lab

Ensure you have the lives animation open while answering the questions
below. Type your answers directly below each question. Follow the instructions
carefully, and then answer the questions.
Purpose:
To use an animation of different radioactive isotopes to learn about radioactive
decay.
Materials:
-

lives animation
graph paper or Microsoft excel

Instructions:
1) Click on Carbon 14. Slide the slider on the bottom across to carbon 14.
What is one life of carbon 14 equal to? What fraction of Carbon 14 has
not decayed at this point? What is the ratio of parent to daughter product
at this point?
A: 5730 years. 50 percent has not decayed. 50:50 or 1:1
2) Carbon 14 Is used to date items that were once living like fossils. If
a fossil was found that was about 25% parent and 75 % daughter (or a 1:3
ratio), how old was this fossil?
A: Roughly 11460 years old
3) Click on iodine 131. Slide the slider across to one life.
How does the life of iodine 131 compare to carbon -14? What is one
life of iodine - 131 equal to?
A: Half life has is much shorter than that of carbon 14. 8.04 days is equal
to one halflife.

4) Slide the slider all the way over to 4 half lives. Note that the amount of
original sample (the parent) goes down by each time. Complete the
blanks in the table below for iodine 131, use the animation to help.
# of lives

Time

% Parent

% Daughter

Parent:Daughter Ratio

0
1
2
3
4

0
8 days
16 days
24 days
48 days

100
50
25
12.5
6.25

0
50
75
87.5
93.25

1-0
1:1
1:3
1:7
1:15

5) You will now graph some of the data from your completed table.
On a full piece of graph paper, or using a graphing program if you wish,
follow these instructions:
a. On the x axis (horizontal) you will graph the number of days
b. On the y axis (vertical) you will have percentage from 0 to 100
c. First plot the % parent from the third column of your table. Draw a
smooth, best fit curve (DO NOT connect the dots). Next plot the %
daughter from the fourth column of your table. Draw a smooth,
best fit curve (DO NOT connect the dots). Use a different colour to
draw this line.
d. Upload this graph with this activity.

TIPS FOR GRAPHING:

ensure you have an overall title and titles and units for your axis.
Each tick mark or square must be of an equal value.
Your graph should be at least page big

Questions:
1) What is a life?
A: Amount of time it takes a parent isotope to decay to 50 percent of its
original state
2) Why would iodine 131 and nitrogen -16 NOT be useful for dating really
old objects?
A: Half life is to short.
3) You want to find the age of a really old rock. Why would carbon-14 not be
useful?
A: If the rock is older than 50000 years, carbon 14 cannot accurately tell its
age.
Conclusion:
In one or two well-written paragraphs written in the third person, write a
conclusion. Discuss the major results of this activity, the science behind it, what
you have learned and any difficulties in this activity.
DO NOT:
- simply repeat the procedures,
- use I, we, names etc
Third Person Writing: for example, instead of saying "I learned in this lab," try
saying "This lab demonstrated..." Instead of saying "I think lives are used for..."
say "1/2 lives are used for...
When conducting the actual experiment in this lab, I found that half lives
can not only be extremely long lasting but also quite short. Take Iodine-131 for
example, it took a length of 8 days to reach its first half-life whereas Carbon-14
took 5370 years to reach its first half-life.
At times in this activity it was difficult to actually find out the exact ratios
from parent to daughter isotopes. However eventually I was able to pick up on a
pattern that helped me solve these ratios. I however enjoyed the activity overall
and though this lab proved to be difficult in some areas, I excelled in parts too.

Drawing the half-life graph was one of the things I believe I did well. I believe the
graph is easy to read and portrays the information on it well.