What percent of the fermium-253 decays each hour? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth of a percent.

Question

The amount  (in grams) of the radioactive isotope fermium-253 remaining after t hours is y=a(0.5)^t/72, where  is the initial amount (in grams). What percent of the fermium-253 decays each hour? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth of a percent.

Answer 1

y = a(0.5)^1/72

y ≈ a(0.5)^0.013888

y ≈ 0.9904a

y = 99.04% a