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A substance with a half life is decaying exponentially. If there are initially 12 grams of the substance and after 2 hours there are 7 grams, how many grams will remain after 3 hours? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth, and do not include units.

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer:

5.33

Explanation:

The amount of a substance decaying exponentially with a half-life can be modeled using the formula A = A₀ * 2^(-t / h), where A is the amount remaining after time t, A₀ is the initial amount of substance, t is the time elapsed, and h is the half-life of the substance. Using the fact that initially there were 12 grams of the substance, and after 2 hours there were 7 grams, we can solve for the half-life h. Substituting the values into the equation 7 = 12 * 2^(-2 / h) and solving, we get that h is approximately 4.145 hours. Finally, we can use the formula A = A₀ * 2^(-t / h) to find the amount of substance remaining after 3 hours. Plugging in A₀ = 12, t = 3, and h ≈ 4.145, we get A ≈ 5.33 grams. Rounding to the nearest hundredth, we conclude that approximately 5.33 grams of the substance will remain after 3 hours.

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User Bongo Sharp
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