GCSE Physics

Half Lives

The half life for some radioactive sources is very large indeed. It all depends on the type of element. For example:

ElementHalf Life
Uranium-2384,468,000,000 years
Carbon-145,730 years
Americium-241432 years
Hydrogen-34,500 days
Sodium-2415 hours

As you can see, they vary considerably! How long the half life is becomes important when putting radioactivity to good uses.


GCSE PhysicsRadioactivity Menu GCSE PhysicsGo to next page