Imagine you collected a volcanic rock while on vacation to Hawaii and you want to know how old it is. Suppose a laboratory that analyzes your rock and tells you that there are 4 micrograms of Uranium-234 (parent) and 124 micrograms of Thorium- 230 (daughter) in your sample. Given that the half-life of this isotope pair is 245 million years, how old is your rock?

Chemistry for Today: General, Organic, and Biochemistry
9th Edition
ISBN:9781305960060
Author:Spencer L. Seager, Michael R. Slabaugh, Maren S. Hansen
Publisher:Spencer L. Seager, Michael R. Slabaugh, Maren S. Hansen
Chapter10: Radioactivity And Nuclear Processes
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 10.18E
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Imagine you collected a volcanic rock while on vacation to Hawaii and you want to
know how old it is. Suppose a laboratory that analyzes your rock and tells you that
there are 4 micrograms of Uranium-234 (parent) and 124 micrograms of Thorium-
230 (daughter) in your sample. Given that the half-life of this isotope pair is 245
million years, how old is your rock?
0.122 billion years
0.245 billion years
0.490 billion years
0.735 billion years
0.980 billion years
1.225 billion years
1.470 billion years
Transcribed Image Text:Imagine you collected a volcanic rock while on vacation to Hawaii and you want to know how old it is. Suppose a laboratory that analyzes your rock and tells you that there are 4 micrograms of Uranium-234 (parent) and 124 micrograms of Thorium- 230 (daughter) in your sample. Given that the half-life of this isotope pair is 245 million years, how old is your rock? 0.122 billion years 0.245 billion years 0.490 billion years 0.735 billion years 0.980 billion years 1.225 billion years 1.470 billion years
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