Question 3

Carbon 14 decays into Nitrogen 14. Using Google, find the half life H of Carbon 14.

The differential equation modeling radioactive decay is

y' (t) = -ky(t)

where k is the decay rate constant and y(0) is the initial concentration of Carbon 14. Given the half life

is H, that is, given that y(H) = y(0)/2, determine k. You can do this one by hand at first but then do

it in Maple.

[Solve the DE in Maple and graph the solution for y(0) = 1 on a suitable domain.