GCSE Physics - Radioactive Decay & Half-life | How to Calculate Activity & Half-life (2026/27 exams)

⭐️ Check out our website https://www.cognito.org/ ⭐️ *** WHAT'S COVERED *** 1. Radioactive Decay * An explanation of unstable isotopes and the random nature of radioactive decay. 2. Activity * A definition of activity as the rate of decay of a radioactive sample. * The unit for activity, the Becquerel (Bq), is explained. 3. Half-life * The two definitions of half-life are covered: the time taken for the number of radioactive nuclei to half, or the time for the activity to half. 4. Calculations and Graphs * How to interpret activity-time graphs (decay curves). * How to calculate the half-life of a sample from a decay curve. * A worked example of a half-life calculation. *** EXAM BOARD SPECIFIC INFO *** AQA - Everything is relevant to your course! IGCSE Edexcel - Separate science and higher tier only Edexcel - Everything is relevant to your course! OCR 21st Century - Everything is relevant to your course! OCR Gateway - Measuring half-life using graphs and calculating involving half-lives are only for higher tier *** CHAPTERS *** 0:00 Introduction to Radioactive Decay 0:17 What are Unstable Isotopes? 1:04 What is Activity? 1:33 What is Half-life? 2:06 The Random Nature of Radioactive Decay 3:20 Understanding Radioactive Decay Curves 3:44 Calculating Half-life from a Graph 4:15 Comparing Different Radioactive Samples 4:40 How to Measure Activity 5:14 Half-Life Calculation Example *** PLAYLISTS *** https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7VzYfPIVt8T09xOLNcolCe4&si=8JmDajxjtba6rdc3 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7UZ3mWhbHv2aA_1vnbsfRPq&si=q3hEKdA4v7kbfwMe https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7UTimdJ3eFcnt6xL9GUt2a6 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7XPh1QacLRiKto_UlnRIEVh&si=orIUwL3o2jOoiYjT https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7X5UFT-expKIuR-i-BN3Q1g&si=DcihOwUkd9oWbbdp https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7WeOKVGHxcd69kKqtwrKl8W&si=Y8MsO-FK948jnxpS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7UVC-8WC9djoeBzwxPeXph7&si=-7i5Iq7yOeJrhtu6 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLidqqIGKox7VKJD2WxRhoKaI6JGLVean8&si=NH_Q1ujhVgACM2FU #GCSE #Physics #study #revision #school #exam #AQA #OCR #Edexcel