MHT CET Physics question

Suppose we consider a large number of containers each containing initially 10000 atoms of a radioactive material with a half-life of 1 yr. After 1 yr

(A)all the containers will have 5000 atoms of the material
(B)all the containers will contain the same number of atoms of the material but that number will only be approximately 5000
(C)the containers will in general have different numbers of the atoms of the material but their average will be close to 5000Correct
(D)None of the containers can have more than 5000 atoms

Answer: (C)

Solution

Radioactive decay is statistical, so each container loses a random number of atoms: the numbers differ from container to container but average

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Question ID VK-084897