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Dice Shaking as an Analogy for Radioactive Decay and First Order Kinetics
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Abstract
An experiment involving the shaking of sets of different sided dice is described. Dice of 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 20 sides are readily available. This experiment serves as an easily understood analogy for radioactive decay and for the more general case of first order kinetics. The shaking of one of the possible numbers on a certain type of dice corresponds to the nuclear state that results in radioactive decay. Students shake a set of six dice, removing those for which the selected number has been shaken. With students working in groups and with pooled data, it can easily be demonstrated that the half life increases as the number of sides of the dice increases. When the data are placed in a spreadsheet and plotted, there is a very good fit to the expected logarithmic relationship that describes first order reactions. This experiment can be coupled to a traditional half life determination of a radionuclide. There is an excellent correlation between the types of curves obtained for the two experiments. The probabilistic nature of radioactive decay is clearly demonstrated. Ways in which this analogy can be extended as a means of understanding first order kinetics are described.
Keywords (Audience):
High School / Introductory ChemistryKeywords (Domain):
DemonstrationsKeywords (Pedagogy):
Analogies / TransferKeywords (Subject):
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- Received: August 03, 2009
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