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The Half Life of Dice - Decay Investigation

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The Half life of dice - Decay Investigation

Aim: In this experiment, our goal is to find the half life of dice, which will represent the radioactive decay of an atom.

Abstract:

While throwing the dice on the table, the result that comes out is a random event. The same as to the decay of an atom is also random.

With that in mind, as a result, dice can be used to simulate radioactive decay. To simulate radioactive decay, we need to know when a dice has “decayed”. Here, the easiest way is to have the number 6 on the cube to represent the dice has “decayed”. When the number 6 turns up on the face,  the dice has decayed and will be removed from the set. The rest of normal dice goes on. [pic 1]

Material:

  • Dice * 100
  • A container
  • Paper and pens to record

Procedure:

  1. Get 100 dice, put all of them into the container.
  2. To shake the container, as to make sure the randomness of the outcome.
  3. Pour the dice out on the desk/floor.
  4. Count and take out the dice which appears to have a number 6 face on top. Record the number of dice which has the number 6 face on top.
  5. Put the remaining dice back into the container.
  6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for 4 more times.
  7. Share the data with the other group for more accuracy.

Data Collection:

Table 1: The decay of dice, Set 1

Trial

Number of dice “decayed”

Remaining dice

0

100 dices

100 dices

1

17 dices

83 dices

2

13 dices

70 dices

3

10 dices

60 dices

4

5 dices

55 dices

5

12 dices

43 dices

Table 2: The decay of dice, Set 2

Trial

Number of dice “decayed”

Remaining dices

0

100 dices

100 dices

1

16 dices

84 dices

2

16 dices

68 dices

3

12 dices

56 dices

4

5 dices

51 dices

5

6 dices

45 dices

Table 3: The decay of dice, Set 3

Trial

Number of dice “decayed”

Remaining dices

0

100 dices

100 dices

1

18 dices

82 dices

2

10 dices

72 dices

3

13 dices

59 dices

4

16 dices

43 dices

5

8 dices

35 dices

Graph:

Processed Data:

[pic 2]

[pic 3]

Half life of the dice for set 1

Amount of dices remained

Number of throws

Half of the amount of dice remained

Number of throws associated on the graph (+- 0.1)

Difference between the number of throws (Half life of the dice) (+- 0.1)

100

0

50

4.3

4.3

83

1

42

5.1

4.1

Average = 4.2 throws

Average Half life of the dice:

(4.2 + 4.2 + 3.5) / 3 = 4.0 throws

Conclusion:

In this experiment, we tested the half life of the dices, to represent the radioactive decay and the half life of atoms. As the dice turned to 6, it decayed and was removed from the set.

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