half-life

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See also: halflife

English

 half-life on Wikipedia

Etymology

From half- +‎ life.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhæfˌlaɪf/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

half-life (plural half-lives)

  1. (nuclear physics) The time required for half the nuclei in a sample of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay.
  2. (physical chemistry) In a chemical reaction, the time required for the concentration of a reactant to fall from a chosen value to half that value.
  3. (medicine) The time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose half of its pharmacological, physiologic, or radiological activity.
  4. The time it takes for an idea or a fashion to lose half of its influential power.
    • 1991, Robert Ackerman, Introduction to Jane Ellen Harrison's Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903)
      Most books of scholarship have surprisingly short intellectual 'half-lives during which they make a difference"

Translations

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See also

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