Carbon-14 decaying to nitrogen-14: parent and daughter

An example figure from the Half-Life Graph generator.

Carbon-14 falling and nitrogen-14 rising as percent of atoms against time in years, crossing at 50% at one half-life, marked T½
Carbon-14, the parent, falls from 100% of the atoms while its stable daughter, nitrogen-14, rises from 0%, the daughter dashed and both named in a key. The two always add up to 100%, so they cross at 50% after one half-life, where a dashed guide line labeled T½ runs down to the time axis.

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Answer key

  • Carbon-14: half-life 5,730 years, λ = 1.21 × 10⁻⁴ per year; beta decay to nitrogen-14
  • After 1 half-life (5,730 years): 50%

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