It is estimated that the Chernobyl disaster released 6.0 MCi of ¹³⁷Cs into the environment. Calculate the mass of ¹³⁷Cs released.

Strategy

We can calculate the mass released using Avogadro's number and the concept of a mole if we can first find the number of nuclei N released. Since the activity R is given, and the half-life of ¹³⁷Cs is found in Appendix B to be 30.2 y, we can use the equation  to find N.

Data from Appendix B

Transcribed Image Text:

R = 0.693N ¹1/2