Natural water contains a small amount of tritium
. This isotope beta-decays with a half-life of 12.5 years. A mountaineer while climbing towards a difficult peak finds debris of some earlier unsuccessful attempt. Among other things he finds a sealed bottle of whisky. On return 1.5 per cent of the
radioactivity as compared to a recently purchased bottle marked ‘8 years old’. Estimate the time of that unsuccessful attempt.
Let initial activity of the bottle = A˳
Activity of the bottle found on the mountain, A = A˳ⅇ-λt
Also, ![]()
Comparing both we get,
![]()
![]()
![]()
⇒![]()