Potassium 40 ( 40 K) is a naturally occurring form of potassium whose decays are responsible for some of Earths geothermal energy 40 K can decay in two different ways The probabilities per unit time for the two decay modes are 1 4 9 10 10 y 1 and 2 6 1 10 11 y 1 What is the lifetime of 40 K What is...

Potassium-40 ( 40 K) is a naturally occurring form of potassium whose -decays are responsible for some

Question:

Potassium-40 (⁴⁰K) is a naturally occurring form of potassium whose β-decays are responsible for some of Earth’s geothermal energy. ⁴⁰K can decay in two different ways. The probabilities per unit time for the two decay modes are λ₁ = 4.9 × 10⁻¹⁰ y⁻¹ and λ₂ = 6.1 × 10⁻¹¹ y⁻¹. What is the lifetime of ⁴⁰K? What is the ratio of the average number of decays of type one and type two?