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,...
Kenan Fellows
Half-Life
Scholars shake their way to understanding half-life with the help of candy. They observe and record which side candy lands on to graph the exponential decay in the fifth lesson plan of seven integrating chemistry and algebra. Combining...
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...
Virginia Department of Education
Radioactive Decay and Half-Life
Explain the importance of radioactive half-life as your high school biologists demonstrate the concept by performing a series of steps designed to simulate radioactive decay. Pupils use pennies to perform an experiment and gather data....
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
Teaching Radioactive Decay: Radioactive Half-life And Dating Techniques
Learners 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
Half-life Worksheet
In this half-life activity, students determine how long it takes for a 100g sample of AU-198 to decay to 6.25g. Then they determine the half-life of a radioactive isotope if a 500.0g sample decays to 62.5g in 24.3 hours. Students also...
Curated OER
Working with Half-Life
In this half-life worksheet, students use a given table of half lives, mass, time and amount of original sample to solve for unknowns in nine given half-life problems.
PhET
Radioactive Dating Game
Uranium 235 has a half-life of over 700 million years and is the fuel used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Pupils see the half-lives and decay rates of Carbon-14 and Uranium-238. They also take measurements of these two...
It's About Time
Special Relativity
According to Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, time moves slower when you're working. That's not quite what it says, and in a hands-on lesson, pupils learn the actual theory. Scholars plot the half life of muons, then compare it...
Curated OER
Math in Science-Radioactive Decay and Half-Life
In this radioactive decay and half-life worksheet, learners use given half-lifes to calculate the amount of time it will take for certain amounts of elements to decay. They also find the age of samples and determine how many grams of...
Curated OER
Chemistry 142 Exam 1
For this chemistry exam worksheet, students solve fifteen problems related to acids and bases, rates of reactions, and half life.
Curated OER
Half-Life
In this half-life worksheet, students are guided through the steps of solving radioactive decay problems. They solve nine problems finding rates of decay, half-life and quantities of substances remaining after given amounts of time.
Curated OER
Demonstrating the Half-Life of a Radioactive Isotope
In this half-life activity, students use 100 pennies to simulate radioactive isotopes and half-life. They place the pennies in a box and shake the box. All pennies that turn up tails are removed from the box. They represent the isotopes...
Curated OER
Calculating Half-Life Problems
In this half-life worksheet, students are given a particular mass of an isotope of cesium and its half life. They are to determine how much cesium will remain after 90 years. They are guided through the problem solving process.
Curated OER
Half-Life Problems
In this half-life worksheet, students calculate the half-life of isotopes, they find masses of isotopes remaining after specified times, and they find particular amounts of time needed to pass for given masses of isotopes to decay.
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...
PHET
Alpha Decay
There are different types of radioactive decay, and alpha decay is when there are too many protons in a nucleus. Here is a simulation that shows alpha particles being emitted from a polonium nucleus. Learners see how radioactive decay...
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...
Virginia Department of Education
Isotopes
Lead your class through the amazing world of isotopes as they investigate the various properties they contain and further understand their respective location on the periodic table. They explore half-lives and radioactivity as each...
Curated OER
Calculating Half-Lives
For this calculating half-lives worksheet, students will use a table with a list of various isotopes and their half-lives to answer 5 problems.
CK-12 Foundation
Radiocarbon Dating
How do we know how long ago a dinosaur lived or an ancient fire pit was used? Scholars learn about the application of carbon dating and half lives to discover things about the past. They adjust the amount of radioactive carbon in the...
Pace University
Grades 9-12 Earth Science
How has Earth changed over time? Pupils explore the topic in a differentiated instruction unit on the geological time scale. After a pre-assessment to gauge knowledge, class members divide into groups based on their ability levels and...
Curated OER
Half Lives
Students investigate the concept of half-life by conducting an M&M experiment. In this chemistry lesson, students differentiate nuclear fusion and fission. They present investigation findings to class.