After the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere from a nuclear power plant the hay in that country was contaminated by a radioactive isotope (half-life 34 weeks). If it is safe to feed the hay to cows when 7% of the radioactive isotope remains, how long did the farmers need to wait to use this hay? Round to the nearest tenth.

The decay constant is LaTeX:  \displaystyle k = \frac{\ln 2}{34} . This gives the equation LaTeX:  \displaystyle 0.07 = e^{-\frac{\ln(2)}{34}t} Taking the natural logarithm of both sides gives LaTeX:  \displaystyle \ln(0.07)= \frac{-t\ln(2)}{34} . Solving for LaTeX:  \displaystyle t gives LaTeX:  \displaystyle t = -\frac{ 34\ln(0.07) }{ \ln(2) } . The farmers had to wait about 130.4 weeks.