Teaching Radioactivity: Simple model of exponential decay class experiment
In this activity, students model radioactive decay using coins and dice. By relating the results from the model to the experimental results in Measuring the half-life of protactinium, students can see that the model helps to explain the way in which a radioactive substance decays. The model provides an insight into what might be happening in radioactive atoms.
This activity is a good analogy for radioactive decay because it is based on probability. The decaying trend will be noticeable and so too will its random nature.
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