Step 1: gently shake the bag to ensure that all the pennies are well mixed. [the person is shaking the bag of pennies.]
step 2: now carefully pour out the pennies and spread into a single layer. [pennies are spread out into a single layer on a surface.]
step 3: sort the pennies into 2 piles. one pile contains the pennies heads up. the other pile contains the pennies tails up. [the pennies are sorted into two piles, one for tails up, the other for heads up.] the pennies with heads up represent the decayed atoms, while those with the tails up represent the un-decayed atoms.
step 4: record the number of pennies in each pile on your data sheet. [49 tails and 51 heads]
put the un-decayed atoms, or pennies with tails up, back into the bag. [tails pennies are put back into the bag.]
put the decayed atoms, the heads up pennies into the cup. [heads pennies are put into the cup.]

repeat steps one through four, five more times to represent each half life. be sure to record the number of pennies in each pile for each half-life on your data sheet.

[trial 2]

[the person has poured the pennies from the bag back on the surface and is sorting them into a single layer. the pennies are sorted into two piles of heads up and tails up. 19 tails and 29 heads. tails pennies are put back into the bag and heads pennies put into the cup.]

[trial 3]

[the person has poured the pennies back on the surface and is sorting them into a single layer. the pennies are sorted into two piles of heads up and tails up. [8 tails and 11 heads. tails pennies put back into the bag. heads pennies put into the cup.] record your data on the sheet.

[trial 4]

[the person has poured the pennies from the bag back on the surface and is sorting them into a single layer. the pennies are sorted into two piles of heads up and tails up. 2 tails and 6 heads. tails pennies are put back into the bag and heads pennies put into the cup.] record your data on the sheet.

[trial 5]

[the person has poured the pennies from the bag back on the surface and is sorting them into a single layer. the pennies are sorted into two piles of heads up and tails up. one tails and one heads. tails pennies are put back into the bag and heads pennies put into the cup.] record your data on the sheet.

[trial 6]

[the person has poured the pennies from the bag back on the surface and is sorting them into a single layer. the pennies are sorted into two piles of heads up and tails up. one tails]

what was your hypothesis? according to your data, do you think your hypothesis was correct?
what is a half-life?
when does a radioactive sample emit the largest number of decay particles? why is this information important? (how can it be applied in our world today? )
do you think the shape of the curve on your graph would change if you increased the half-life to 20 seconds? what does this reveal about radioactive decay?
do you think the shape of the curve on your graph would change if you started with a smaller sample, say 50 atoms (pennies)? what does this reveal about radioactive decay?