NEUTRONS IN SPACE STATION!!

Level 2

The half life of a neutron is 800 sec. 10^8 neutrons at a certain instant are projected from one space station towards another, situated 3200 km away,with a velocity 2000 m/s. their velocity remains constant during the journey.how many neutrons reach the station? divide your answer by 10^6 .

PS: i request you to post a solution too!


The answer is 25.

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2 solutions

T o t a l d i s t a n c e t o b e c o v e r e d = 3200 K m = 3200 × 10 3 S p e e d = 2000 m / s T i m e t a k e n = d i s t a n c e c o v e r e d s p e e d = 3200 × 10 3 2000 = 1600 s e c o n d N o w t o t a l n e u t r o n s = 10 8 S i n c e h a l f l i f e = 800 s e c o n d , t h e n a d t e r 800 s e c o n d , r e m a i n i n g n e u t r o n s = 0.5 × 10 8 = 5 × 10 7 A f t e r 1600 s e c o n d , r e m a i n i n g n e u t r o n s = 0.5 × 5 × 10 7 = 25 × 10 6 A f t e r d i d v i n g w i t h 10 6 , a n s w e r = 25 Total\quad distance\quad to\quad be\quad covered\quad =\quad 3200\quad Km\quad =\quad 3200\times { 10 }^{ 3 }\\ Speed\quad =\quad 2000\quad m/s\\ Time\quad taken\quad =\quad \frac { distance\quad covered }{ speed } =\frac { 3200\times { 10 }^{ 3 } }{ 2000 } =1600\quad second\\ Now\quad total\quad neutrons\quad =\quad { 10 }^{ 8 }\\ Since\quad half\quad life\quad =\quad 800\quad second,\quad then\quad adter\quad 800\quad second,\quad remaining\\ neutrons\quad =\quad 0.5\times { 10 }^{ 8 }\quad =\quad 5\times { 10 }^{ 7 }\\ After\quad 1600\quad second,\quad remaining\quad neutrons\quad =\quad 0.5\times 5\times { 10 }^{ 7 }\\ =25\times { 10 }^{ 6 }\\ After\quad didving\quad with\quad { 10 }^{ 6 },\quad answer\quad =\quad 25

thanks abhineet!this is a class 12th radioactive decay problem.

Ishita Bhatia - 6 years, 8 months ago

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Woah!! Lol...thnx for that @Ishita Bhatia , i feel a bit more confident now:-D

A Former Brilliant Member - 6 years, 8 months ago

but its not important that the final neutrons should be half of the number of neutrons in the half life. i suggest if you have a look at the law of radioactive decay. your answer might just be a coincidence.

Ishita Bhatia - 6 years, 8 months ago

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But isn't it true that half life is the time after which the total number of entities gets halved????

A Former Brilliant Member - 6 years, 8 months ago

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yes abhineet, but in the nuclear reactions and radioactive decay, they follow certain different laws. if u really love science, you might feel like having a look over them ;)

Ishita Bhatia - 6 years, 8 months ago

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@Ishita Bhatia Sure, Thanks for the guidance @Ishita Bhatia :) I would definitely look over them...

A Former Brilliant Member - 6 years, 8 months ago

The velocity of neutrons are too small to use Lorentz's factor, so we use classical mechanic.

Time for the neutrons to reach the space station is t = 3200 × 1 0 3 2000 = 1600 \displaystyle t = \frac{3200 \times 10^3}{2000} = 1600 seconds.

Using radioactive decay law:

N ( t ) = N 0 e ln 2 t 1 / 2 t \displaystyle N(t)=N_{0}e^{-\frac{\ln 2}{t_{1/2}}t}

With t 1 / 2 = 800 t_{1/2} = 800 seconds and N 0 = 1 0 8 N_{0}=10^8 neutrons, we got N ( t ) = 25 × 1 0 6 N(t) = 25 \times 10^6 neutrons \implies the answer is 25 \boxed{25} .

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