Concept explainers
Of much concern to environmentalists is radon-222, which is a radioactive noble gas that can seep from the ground into basements of homes and buildings. Radon-222 is a product of the decay of radiurn-226 that occurs naturally in rocks and soil in much of the United States. Radon-222, which has a half-life of 3.8 days, decays by emitting an alpha particle. Radon-222, which is a gas, can be inhaled into the lungs where it is strongly associated with lung cancer. Radon levels in a home can be measured with a home radon-detection kit. Environmental agencies have set the maximum level of radon-222 in a home at 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air. (5.2, 5.3, 5.4)
a. Write the balanced
b. Write the balanced nuclear equation for the decay of Rn-222.
C. If a room contains 24 000 atoms of radon-222, how many atoms of radon- 222 remain after 15.2 days?
d. Suppose a room has a volume of 72 000 L (
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 6 Solutions
Chemistry: An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry (13th Edition)
- 3.71 What is meant by the term carbon reservoir? What are the two largest carbon reservoirs for our planet?arrow_forwardAn adult human body contains 6.0 L blood, which contains about 15.5 g hemoglobin per 100.0 mL blood. The molar mass of hemoglobin is approximately 64,500 g/mol and there is 4 mol iron per 1 mol hemoglobin. A news item claims that there is sufficient iron in the hemoglobin of the body that this iron, if it were in the form of metallic iron, could make a 3-in. iron nail that weighs approximately 3.7 g. Show sufficient calculations to either support or refute the claim.arrow_forwardAn element X bas five major isotopes, which are listed below along with their abundances. What is the element? Isotope Percent Natural Abundance Mass (u) 46x 8.00% 45.95232 47x 7.30% 46.951764 48x 73.80% 47.947947 49x 5.50% 48.947841 50x 5.40% 49.944792arrow_forward
- Marie Curie was born in Poland but studied and carried out her research in Paris. In 1903, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with H. Becquerel and her husband Pierre for their discovery of radioactivity. (In 1911 she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of two new chemical elements, radium and polonium, the latter named for her homeland, Poland.) They and others observed that a radioactive substance could emit three types of radiation: alpha (), beta (), and gamma (). If the radiation from a radioactive source is passed between electrically charged plates, some particles are attached to the positive plate, some to the negative plate, and others feel no attraction. Which particles are positively charged, which are negatively charged, and which have no charge? Of the two charged particles, which has the most mass? Radioactivity. Alpha (), beta I(), and gamma () rays from a radioactive element are separated by passing them between electrically charged plates.arrow_forwardLiving things absorb carbon-14 (C-14) throughout their lives, and then stop absorbing C-14 when they die.After a living thing dies, the C-14 in it decays into C-12. C-12 is a stable isotope, but C-14 is radioactive, witha half-life of 5730 years. Suppose an archaeologist finds an ancient firepit containing some partially consumedfirewood. This wood contains only 2.00 percent of the concentration of C-14 of a carbon sample from apresent-day tree. How many years old is this firewood?arrow_forward
- ChemistryChemistryISBN:9781305957404Author:Steven S. Zumdahl, Susan A. Zumdahl, Donald J. DeCostePublisher:Cengage LearningChemistry & Chemical ReactivityChemistryISBN:9781337399074Author:John C. Kotz, Paul M. Treichel, John Townsend, David TreichelPublisher:Cengage LearningChemistry & Chemical ReactivityChemistryISBN:9781133949640Author:John C. Kotz, Paul M. Treichel, John Townsend, David TreichelPublisher:Cengage Learning
- Chemistry: The Molecular ScienceChemistryISBN:9781285199047Author:John W. Moore, Conrad L. StanitskiPublisher:Cengage LearningLiving By Chemistry: First Edition TextbookChemistryISBN:9781559539418Author:Angelica StacyPublisher:MAC HIGHER