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
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...
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...
Illustrative Mathematics
Accuracy of Carbon 14 Dating II
The scientific issue of carbon-14 dating and exponential decay gets a statistics-based treatment in this problem. The class starts with a basic investigation of carbon content, but then branches out to questions of accuracy and ranges of...
Curated OER
Radioactive Decay: A Sweet Simulation of a Half-life
High schoolers demonstrate rates of decay of unstable nuclei can be measured. They understand ratios and multiplication of fractions. They simulate radioactive decay. They read about the accomplishments of scientists.
Virginia Department of Education
Determining Absolute Age
How can radioactive decay help date old objects? Learners explore half-life and radioactive decay by conducting an experiment using pennies to represent atoms. Young scientists graph data from the experiment to identify radioactive decay...
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...
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
Using Radioactive Decay To Determine Age
Learners explore the process of carbon dating fossils to determine their age. They simulate radioactive decay using pennies in a shoe box. Heads represents a decayed atom each time they shake the box. They use the data to calculate the...
Curated OER
Radioactive Decay
Students generate a radioactive decay table for an imaginary element, use their data to plot a decay graph, develop the concept of half-life, and use the graph to "age" several samples.
Curated OER
I'm Late, I'm Late, for a Radioactive Date!
Through the use of an interactive Web site, learners explore C-14 and C-14 dating. Then students analyze an article written about the C-14 dating of the Shroud of Turin and draw conclusions.
Curated OER
Writing Nuclear Reactions
In this writing nuclear reactions worksheet, students read about nuclear equations for alpha decay, beta decay and positron emission. They are given the rules for writing nuclear reactions and a sample problem.
Curated OER
A Phylogenetic Perspective for the Cladistically Challenged
Students use M&Ms to simulate radioactive decay of elements.
Curated OER
Absolute Ages of Rocks
In this ages of rock worksheet, students review the processes involved with determining the ages of rocks which includes the radioactive decay of carbon-14. This worksheet has 5 matching and 5 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Frosty the Snowman Meets His Demise: An Analogy to Carbon Dating
Students read and discuss an article about carbon dating, then participate in a hands-on lab to discover how carbon dating works. Students also write a letter to a friend explaining the process, and how archeologists use the process to...
Curated OER
Absolute Dating/Radioactive Dating
Students explore radioactive decay. In this radioactive atoms lesson students complete a lab to help them understand the relationship between radioactive atoms vs stable atoms.
Curated OER
Chapter 22 - 25 Review
In this chemistry review worksheet, learners explore their knowledge of solutions, acid and bases, nuclear reactions, and radioactive decay as they answer 33 matching, fill in the blank, and short answer questions.
Curated OER
Radioactive Dating
In this radioactive dating learning exercise, students use their reference guide in their text book to find the half-lives of 4 isotopes. They use a decay chart to help determine the half-lives and age of given bones and samples of...
Curated OER
Exponential Decay
Young scholars study exponential decay and its application to radiocarbon dating. In this exponential decay lesson, students use candy to model the time it takes for something to decay. Young scholars also graph the data they collect and...
Curated OER
The Nucleus-Radioactivity
In this nucleus and radioactivity worksheet, learners collect class data and the students represent radioactive atoms decaying. They plot their data and answer two questions about the results. They solve seven problems given the half...
Curated OER
Nuclear Decay
In this nuclear decay worksheet, students read about alpha and beta decay and the isotopes formed by the reactions. Students solve nine problems including writing the equations for the decay of radioactive isotopes, identifying the...
Curated OER
Connection to Fine Arts: Carbon-Dating Masterpieces
In this carbon dating worksheet, learners read about how carbon-14 is used to date historical paintings. They answer questions about carbon dating and its importance.
Curated OER
Half Life Analogy
Eighth graders explain half life. In this hands on activity, 8th graders use licorice to explain radioactive decay and graph their results.
Curated OER
Earth's Age: The Dating Game
Students conduct a simulation to determine radioactive decay and half-life. Using pennies, dice or sugar cubes as isotopes placed in shoe boxes simulating rocks, they hold five trials representing 1000 years each to find the theoretical...