Calculate the activity due to ¹⁴C in 1.00 kg of carbon found in a living organism. Express the activity in units of Bq and Ci.

Strategy

To find the activity R using the equation  we must know N and t_1/2. The half-life of ¹⁴C can be found in Appendix B, and was stated above as 5730 y. To find N, we first find the number of ¹²C nuclei in 1.00 kg of carbon using the concept of a mole. As indicated, we then multiply by 1.3x10^-12 (the abundance of  ¹⁴C in a carbon sample from a living organism) to get the number of ¹⁴C nuclei in a living organism.

Data from Appendix B

Transcribed Image Text:

R = 0.693 N ¹1/2