Where are the dinosaurs?

[Wiccan_Child]

is radiometric decay constant? is the decay constant? is it decaying at a constant rate?

The half-life is constant, yes.

 

[JoeyArnold]

The half-life is constant, yes.

what is a half life? how long is a half life? and why do you trust a half life? i think i would trust the five million old man more even if he did smell bad

 

[razeontherock]

A half life is 1/2 of a whole life

 

[mzungu]

what is a half life? how long is a half life? and why do you trust a half life? i think i would trust the five million old man more even if he did smell bad

Half life is where you get attacked constantly by all manner of fiendish beings

 

[razeontherock]

And here I thought that was middle earth?

 

[Wiccan_Child]

what is a half life?

It is the time it takes half of a lump of radioactive material to decay. Though any individual instance of radioactive decay is spontaneous and unpredictable, we know that, on average, fully half of a given lump of the material will undergo decay over the characteristic time.

For example, say we had 1 kg of Carbon-14. [sup]14[/sup]C has a half-life of 5,400 years, which means that, if we wait 5,400 years, 500g (half) of our 1 kg of [sup]14[/sup]C will decay into [sup]12[/sup]C.

Time in years -- Amount of [sup]14[/sup]C
0 -- 1 kg
5400 -- 500 g
10800 -- 250 g
16200 -- 125 g
21600 -- 62.5 g
Etc

That's what a half-life is. It's the characteristic time that it takes for half of a lump of radioactive material to decay.

how long is a half life?

It varies. Seaborgium-266 has a half-life of 30 seconds, Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,400 years, Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, etc.

and why do you trust a half life?

Because the physics is incredibly robust, and the evidence is monumental. I'm a physicist myself, radiation is my thing.

 

[JoeyArnold]

Though any individual instance of radioactive decay is spontaneous and unpredictable, we know that, on average, fully half of a given lump of the material will undergo decay over the characteristic time............ Because the physics is incredibly robust, and the evidence is monumental. I'm a physicist myself, radiation is my thing.

you write that "decay is unpredictable" and that it is "Robust" too at the same time. Here is your quote again, just in case: "hough any individual instance of radioactive decay is spontaneous and unpredictable, we know that, on average, fully half of a given lump of the material will undergo decay over the characteristic time............ Because the physics is incredibly robust, and the evidence is monumental. I'm a physicist myself, radiation is my thing."

 

[Elendur]

you write that "decay is unpredictable" and that it is "Robust" too at the same time. Here is your quote again, just in case: "hough any individual instance of radioactive decay is spontaneous and unpredictable, we know that, on average, fully half of a given lump of the material will undergo decay over the characteristic time............ Because the physics is incredibly robust, and the evidence is monumental. I'm a physicist myself, radiation is my thing."

It makes sense if you know how basic statistics work.

 

[JoeyArnold]

It makes sense if you know how basic statistics work.

are statistics facts?

 

[Elendur]

are statistics facts?

Good question.
I'm not entirely sure, but if I go by the definition from;
fact - definition of fact by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
I would have to say no.

Still doesn't change though, understanding of basic statistics would make what Wiccan_Child wrote a whole lot easier to understand.

Mathematics fall outside of facts. (Could be mistaken though)

 

[Wiccan_Child]

you write that "decay is unpredictable" and that it is "Robust" too at the same time.

Indeed I did. I understand why it might be confusing - naively, the two terms seem to be mutually exclusive. However, they're not.

Radioactive decay is unpredictable, inasmuch as there is a probability curve that guages how likely it is that a given atom will decay over time - when it decays is unknown and fundamentally unknowable, but that doesn't mean we don't know anything about it. We may not know precisely when, but we can say, "There is a 50% chance it will decay between now and X years into the future".

It's unpredictable, inasmuch as you can't say, "It will decay... now!". It's robust, inasmuch as we can say, "Half of it will decay between now and X".

We don't know which atoms will decay (unpredictability), but we know that they will decay (robust). Unpredictable, robust.

So, that all said, what exactly was your question?

 

[JoeyArnold]

Mathematics fall outside of facts. (Could be mistaken though)

are mathematical statistics facts? are statistics able to predict the future or reveal the past? statistically speaking, i may eat five hamburgers a day. each day, i may eat the same or that may be the average. so from those statistics, can we prove that others will eat five hamburgers too? can we prove that if i ate five today, then i ate five yesterday or that i will eat five tomorrow? is it fact that i will eat five tomorrow, statistically speaking, because i ate five today? can we know for sure that i ate five yesterday just by the fact or statistics of knowing that i ate five today? can we know for sure that my ancestors ate five a day or that my descendants will eat five a day? are statistics able to predict the future or the past? are statistics facts? can we know for sure how things were based on how things are...... how things are now is that i eat five a day.... but can we assume that i have always ate five a day? what if the hamburgers were half the size that they are today? so a long time ago i ate mini versions of hamburgers.... does that still count as five? what if the hamburgers had different ingredients back then? what if each day was 48 hours long? does that still mean that i ate five each day when each day was 48 hours then? so the statistics, the numbers, certain variables, certain details, can stay the same..... i may have ate five a day back then..... but the hamburgers could have been different sizes or different ingredients..... or the days could have been longer or shorter.... or maybe people use to help me eat them... so many different variables that you would not know... what if i fed my five hamburgers to my dogs back then..... you would think that i use to eat five a day back then.... the evidence may conclude just that... but maybe i fed the five hamburgers to my dogs...... but how would u know?

 

[mzungu]

so many different variables that you would not know... what if i fed my five hamburgers to my dogs back then..... you would think that i use to eat five a day back then.... the evidence may conclude just that... but maybe i fed the five hamburgers to my dogs...... but how would u know?

I would go and ask your dogs and if you had indeed fed them the hamburgers then I would have the RSPCA bung you in the slammer for mistreating animals by feeding them junk food!

 

[quatona]

Why aren't there more dinosaur bones?

I prefer the meat, anyway.

 

[Elendur]

are mathematical statistics facts? are statistics able to predict the future or reveal the past? statistically speaking, i may eat five hamburgers a day. each day, i may eat the same or that may be the average. so from those statistics, can we prove that others will eat five hamburgers too? can we prove that if i ate five today, then i ate five yesterday or that i will eat five tomorrow? is it fact that i will eat five tomorrow, statistically speaking, because i ate five today? can we know for sure that i ate five yesterday just by the fact or statistics of knowing that i ate five today? can we know for sure that my ancestors ate five a day or that my descendants will eat five a day? are statistics able to predict the future or the past? are statistics facts? can we know for sure how things were based on how things are...... how things are now is that i eat five a day.... but can we assume that i have always ate five a day? what if the hamburgers were half the size that they are today? so a long time ago i ate mini versions of hamburgers.... does that still count as five? what if the hamburgers had different ingredients back then? what if each day was 48 hours long? does that still mean that i ate five each day when each day was 48 hours then? so the statistics, the numbers, certain variables, certain details, can stay the same..... i may have ate five a day back then..... but the hamburgers could have been different sizes or different ingredients..... or the days could have been longer or shorter.... or maybe people use to help me eat them... so many different variables that you would not know... what if i fed my five hamburgers to my dogs back then..... you would think that i use to eat five a day back then.... the evidence may conclude just that... but maybe i fed the five hamburgers to my dogs...... but how would u know?

Three words: Better structure needed.

As for the questions:

• I've already stated that mathematical statistics fall outside of facts.

• Statistics can be used to predict the probability of a certain outcome, whether it's in the past, present or the future, using available data.

• Statistics cannot predict information that it doesn't process, i.e. the size of the burgers or content etc in this case.

Proving is out of the question. It always is in the natural world.

 

[Lillen]

They hide in human clothing and are in the realm of the dead, in the underground. After being stuck infront of a computer for more then fifteen years, and get snares of death, a pushbutton, lived in the deathcell walking the green mile, and get the cyanid injection without dying!!! It feels like i been batteling against a dragon, a T Rex, and actually won the fight, saving a princess from being sacrificed to him. The emotion i have make me feel so noble it cannot be described in words.

They play guitar, drums and bass, making horrible music, singing "devils" and "erotic death" repetative, to frighten you away from your home

I know their song, see below for more information...

 

[AV1611VET]

They hide in human clothing and are in the realm of the dead, in the underground. After being stuck infront of a computer for more then fifteen years, and get snares of death, a pushbutton, lived in the deathcell walking the green mile, and get the cyanid injection without dying!!! It feels like i been batteling against a dragon, a T Rex, and actually won the fight, saving a princess from being sacrificed to him. The emotion i have make me feel so noble it cannot be described in words.

They play guitar, drums and bass, making horrible music, singing "devils" and "erotic death" repetative, to frighten you away from your home

I know their song, see below for more information...

If you're talking about [devil music on] Youtube, we can still slay that dragon by clicking that little cyanide button [x] at the top, eh?

 

[Lillen]

I don't follow you? I've search for the deathsceance on youtube but couldn't find it anywere!

 

[Lillen]

Katla (Bröderna Lejonhjärta) - YouTube

 

[mzungu]

Katla (Bröderna Lejonhjärta) - YouTube

WOW Godzila played in a Swedish movie