Take a radioactive sample.Every radioactive metal has the tendency to disintegrate.Then how is it possible that only half of the taken atoms disintegrate at some particular interval of time?

Dear harini,

Half-life is the period of time it takes for a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms (radioactive decay), but may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.

SAGAR SINGH

B.Tech, Chemical Engg

IIT Delhi