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half-lives

  • plural
    of half-life.
    half-life
    noun
    the time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate.

Example Sentences

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"I'm already starting to think of what we can do next in terms of measuring their half-lives, their masses and other properties."

From Science Daily Feb. 15, 2024

Unlike the GLP-1 hormone, which is rapidly metabolized by the body, semaglutide and similar medications have much longer half-lives, meaning the medication can build up inside the body if not enough time elapses between doses.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 20, 2023

And probably shorter half-lives than the sublimity past generations found in the technologies of their own day.

From Salon May 30, 2023

“And things that start out in the economics literature have half-lives in the applied policy world that are longer than the time period during which they’re the frontier of the field.”

From New York Times Aug. 25, 2022

Alvarez determined that K-capture occurs only in heavy atoms with many protons—that is, those with high atomic numbers—-and in isotopes with long half-lives.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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