A Tasty Way to Model Radioactive Decay

Discussion Questions
Name: Riley
Number of Shakes
0 (Start)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Trial 1
100
43
23
9
4
2
1
0

Trial 2
100
50
28
8
4
1
0

Trial 3
100
44
24
12
5
3
0

1) Write a suitable aim for this activity.

To observe the way half-life decay happens using M&Ms
2) In this activity, the atomic nuclei were represented by M&Ms. What represented the
half-life of the decay process?
The number of M&Ms that werent turned over
3) Examine your graph. Are the shapes of the three curves similar or different? Explain why.
Similar because it almost halved every shake
4) Do you think the overall shape of the curves would be different if you started with more
atomic nuclei? Explain your answer.
No, because the results show that it halved every time we shake the M&Ms
5) In this activity, could you predict when each individual nucleus (M&M) would decay?
Why is this similar to the behaviour of real radioactive atoms?
No, this is similar because you dont know what part of the atom will decay
6) Why is the half-life of a radioactive substance determined by measuring mass rather
than by counting atoms as we did here?
Because you have to take into account all of the charges and how they will react