Half-Life Simulation: The Probability of Random Events—ChemTopic™ Lab Activity

Radioactive decay is spontaneous and completely random with no way to predict when a specific atom will disintegrate and produce a new atom. However, the probability can be simulated by studying other random processes. With the Half-Life Simulation: The Probability of Random Events—ChemTopic™ Lab Activity, simulate radioactive decay by studying the probability of the random rolling of dice. Several rounds of the process will be repeated until no dice remain. The “half-life” of dice is determined by graphing the number of dice remaining after each round.