Exploratorium
Radioactive Decay Model
Toss 100 pennies (or poker chips or any other two-different-sided objects) and remove all of those displaying tails. Line them up and repeat. The lines of pennies collected get smaller each time, successfully representing half-life.
Curated OER
Get a Half-Life Student Worksheet
Young scientists use a activity to help them perform a lab on the decay of a radioactive element. The activity serves as both a task guide and a lab sheet for pairs of learners. This activity requires a calculator and has excellent...
Curated OER
2000 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad National Exam - Part I
The National Chemistry Olympiad exams are comprehensive tests covering an entire year of chemistry concepts. You can use them as practice for competing in the challenge, or simply as a review, or as an actual final exam for your general...
Curated OER
Physics 152 Fall 2004 Final Exam, Parts A, B, C, D
At the end of a general physics course focused on light and electricity, you can administer this exam. Concepts covered include electromagnetism, circuits, induction, light rays, lenses and mirrors, characteristics of light, electron...
Curated OER
Get a Half Life!: Student Worksheet
Upper elementary or middle schoolers will explore non-linear functions, graphing, and the curve of best fit through real-life data collection and trial analysis. They explore the concept of half-life and radioactive decay using M&Ms,...
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Nuclear Popcorn
Make your lesson on radioactive decay pop with this lab exercise. Using popcorn kernels spread over a tabletop, participants pick up all of those that point toward the back of the room, that is, those that represent decayed atoms. As the...
Curated OER
Physics Final Exam, Part A
Here is a comprehensive and cohesive final exam for your high school physicists. A variety of question styles are incorporated, such as multiple-choice and problem-solving. Topics are too many to list, so you will want to review the exam...
Curated OER
Teaching Radioactive Decay: Radioactive Half-life And Dating Techniques
Students generate a radioactive decay table for an imaginary element using a box filled with pinto beans and M&M's. They use their data to plot a decay graph, develop the concept of half-life, and use the graph to "age" several samples.
Curated OER
Radioactive Decay
Students explore what radioactive decay is and are able to relate it to the concept of half-life. They are given 100 green beads that represent radioactive atoms and 100 white beads that represent stable, non-radioactive daughter atoms....
Curated OER
Get a Half-life!
Students explore decay functions and the half-life of a substance. Through an M&M activity with calculators, students collect and graph data. They determine the linear, quadratic and exponential functions of the graph. Students...
Curated OER
Radiation
Students distinguish between natural and man-made radiation. They measure radiation using a Geiger counter and investigate footprints of radiation.