Nuclear physics | Physics | Khan Academy - Half-life | Physics | Khan Academy

Courses on Khan Academy are always 100% free. Start practicing—and saving your progress—now! https://www.khanacademy.org/science/highschool-physics/x6679aa2c65c01e53:nuclear-physics/x6679aa2c65c01e53:half-life/v/half-life-radiometric-dating Want to explore more? Check out the full nuclear physics playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSQl0a2vh4HCBNsg2hoAn0ZpFrmNbX4XO Half-life is the time required for half of a radioactive sample to decay. Half-life cannot be changed—nuclei cannot be forced to decay faster or slower. Additionally, we cannot predict when an individual nucleus will decay. However, when analyzing a large sample containing many nuclei, half-life allows us to predict how much of the sample will remain after a given amount of time. This is useful for radiometric dating. Sections: 00:00 - Intro 00:34 - What is half-life? 03:26 - Coin toss analogy 05:50 - Radioactive decay is spontaneous 06:37 - Why care about half-life? 07:20 - Decay graph 08:30 - Radiometric dating ------------------ Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan Academy has been translated into dozens of languages, and 15 million people around the globe learn on Khan Academy every month. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we would love your help! Donate here: https://www.khanacademy.org/donate?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=desc Volunteer here: https://www.khanacademy.org/contribute?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=desc