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Carbon-13 and carbon-14 are isotopes of carbon - Edexcel - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 6 - 2019 - Paper 1
Question 6
Carbon-13 and carbon-14 are isotopes of carbon. Nuclei of carbon-13 and carbon-14 can be represented by these symbols $$ {}^{13}_{6} ext{C} ext{ and } {}^{14}_{6} ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Carbon-13 and carbon-14 are isotopes of carbon - Edexcel - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 6 - 2019 - Paper 1
Step 1
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Step 4
Determine the age of the piece of wood.
Answer
The age of the wood can be determined using the formula for radioactive decay. Given that the half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, we can calculate the number of half-lives passed:
Initial amount = 1,000,000 Remaining amount = 125,000
Using the decay formula:
t = rac{N_0}{N} = rac{1,000,000}{125,000} = 8 ext{ half-lives}
Thus, the age of the wood is:
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Step 5
Explain what the information in Figure 5 and Figure 6 shows about the structure of an atom.
Answer
The results from Rutherford's experiment show that most alpha particles passed straight through the gold foil, indicating that atoms are mostly empty space. However, a small number were deflected, suggesting the presence of a dense nucleus which contains most of the mass of an atom. This nucleus is positively charged as it repels the positively charged alpha particles, explaining the deflections observed at positions P, Q, and R. The varying number of alpha particles detected also suggests the nucleus is very small compared to the overall size of the atom.