Mean Lifetime Part 1: Dice

dicedecay

Rolling dice serves as the model for decaying particles.

Students represent “particles” with six-sided dice, and determine the “decay time” using a histogram of the number of dice remaining after each roll. Dice are removed if their value matches a “decay” criterion. The students find half-life and mean lifetime from the plot. 

Materials
Attributes
Data Strand
Level
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Practices