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Date May 2022 Marks available 1 Reference code 22M.1.SL.TZ2.27
Level Standard level Paper Paper 1 Time zone 2
Command term Question number 27 Adapted from N/A

Question

What statement is not true about radioactive decay?


A.  The percentage of radioactive nuclei of an isotope in a sample of that isotope after 7 half-lives is smaller than 1 %.

B.  The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the time taken for half the nuclei in a sample of that isotope to decay.

C.  The whole-life of a radioactive isotope is the time taken for all the nuclei in a sample of that isotope to decay.

D.  The half-life of radioactive isotopes range between extremely short intervals to thousands of millions of years.

Markscheme

C

Examiners report

There was some questioning about the use of the term 'whole-life' from teacher comments. As that option (C) was the correct answer and the most popular it did not confuse the candidates. The statement is clearly incorrect and the use of a non physics specific term that might be used in a general discussion was felt to be acceptable.

Syllabus sections

Core » Topic 7: Atomic, nuclear and particle physics » 7.1 – Discrete energy and radioactivity
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Core » Topic 7: Atomic, nuclear and particle physics
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