AnswersDriveHalf-life is the time it takes for one-half of the atoms of a radioactive material to disintegrate. Scientists can use the half-life of carbon-14 to determine the approximate age of organic objects. They determine how much of the carbon-14 has transformed. They can then calculate the age of a substance.
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Why do we use half life instead of whole life?
We use the half-life because radioactive decay is a matter of chance. When one atom will decay is anyone's guess. If you have two identical atoms, one could decay immediately, the other could hang around for a century or a millenium. This time frame, where statistically half the atoms decay is called the half-life.
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Why is it important to know the half life of a drug?
We usually consider the half life of a drug in relation to the amount of the drug in plasma. A drug's plasma half-life depends on how quickly the drug is eliminated from the plasma. Both of these pharmacokinetic parameters are important in determining the half life of a drug.
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What is a half life of a rock?
In order to determine the age of a geologic material, we must understand the concept of half-life. Half-life is a term that describes time. The definition is: The time required for one-half of the radioactive (parent) isotopes in a sample to decay to radiogenic (daughter) isotopes.
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What is Half Life used for?
Not only does it decay by giving off energy and matter, but it also decays at a rate that is characteristic to itself. The rate at which a radioactive isotope decays is measured in half-life. The term half-life is defined as the time it takes for one-half of the atoms of a radioactive material to disintegrate.
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What is the half life of a drug?
A medication's biological or terminal half-life is how long it takes for half of the dose to be eliminated from the bloodstream. In medical terms, the half-life of a drug is the time it takes for the plasma concentration of a drug to reach half of its original concentration.
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What does it mean to have a half life?
For example, the half-life of a radioactive substance is the amount of time it takes for half of its atoms to decay, and the half-life of a drug is the amount of time it takes before half of the active elements are either eliminated or broken down by the body.
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Is Half Life constant?
In a first-order chemical reaction, the half-life of the reactant is ln(2)/λ, where λ is the reaction rate constant. In radioactive decay, the half-life is the length of time after which there is a 50% chance that an atom will have undergone nuclear decay.
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How many half lives of a drug does it take to eliminate 50% of the drug from the body?
From a clinical standpoint, it is common to assume that a drug is effectively eliminated after 4-5 half-lives. So, in strict pharmacokinetic terms, if we use a half-life of efavirenz of 50 hours, we would conclude that it is eliminated in 250 hours (5 half-lives), or about 10 days.
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Why is it important to know the half life of an isotope before using it?
It takes a certain amount of time for half the atoms in a sample to decay. The amount of time it takes for one-half of a sample to decay is called the half-life of the isotope, and it's given the symbol: It's important to realize that the half-life decay of radioactive isotopes is not linear.
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What is the half life of methadone?
The half-life of methadone in an opioid-tolerant patient is approximately 24 hours; its half-life in an opioid-naive patient is approximately 55 hours. Therefore, the duration of effect is extended in opioid-naive patients.
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What half life is?
the time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate. Also called biological half-life. Pharmacology. the time required for the activity of a substance taken into the body to lose one half its initial effectiveness.
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How long is the half life of carbon 14?
The half-life of a radioactive isotope describes the amount of time that it takes half of the isotope in a sample to decay. In the case of radiocarbon dating, the half-life of carbon 14 is 5,730 years.
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What is the half life of clonazepam?
Clonazepam has a long elimination half-life. Elimination half-life refers to how long it takes for half of a single dose of a drug to leave the body. For clonazepam, its elimination half-life ranges from 30 to 40 hours. This means that it will take between one to two days for just 50% of Klonopin to leave your system.
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What is the half life of a chemical?
Half-Lives. In discussions of radioactivity, the half-life of an isotope refers to the time it takes for one-half of the sample to decay. If we start with 100 g of a radioactive substance whose half-life is 15 days, after 15 days 50 g of the substance will remain.
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What is the half life of caffeine in the human body?
The half-life of caffeine (time taken for the body to eliminate one-half of the caffeine) varies widely between people, depending on factors such as age, body weight, pregnancy status, medication intake and liver health. In healthy adults, the half-life is approximately 5 to 6 hours.
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What is the half life of ibuprofen?
Ibuprofen is rapidly metabolized and eliminated in the urine. The excretion of ibuprofen is virtually complete 24 hours after the last dose. The serum half-life is 1.8 to 2.0 hours.
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Why is radioactive decay used to determine the absolute age of rocks?
Absolute Dating. The nuclear decay of radioactive isotopes is a process that behaves in a clock-like fashion and is thus a useful tool for determining the absolute age of rocks. Radioactive decay is the process by which a “parent” isotope changes into a “daughter” isotope.
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What is the half life of fluoxetine?
With time, fluoxetine and norfluoxetine inhibit their own metabolism, so fluoxetine elimination half-life changes from 1 to 3 days, after a single dose, to 4 to 6 days, after long-term use. Similarly, the half-life of norfluoxetine is longer (16 days) after long-term use.