Tenth value time
The term tenth of the value time is to be seen analogously to the term half-life , only that in this case the decrease does not take place by half, but by one tenth.
Example: After a tenth of a value time, the amount of a radioactive substance (or its activity) has dropped to 1/10; the remaining tenth decays to a tenth in the course of the next tenth value time, so that 1/100 remains, etc. (1/1000, 1/10000, ...) until only a small number of nuclei is left. The decay of an individual nucleus cannot be predicted, however, since only a probability of its decay within a given time can be given. The probability that a considered nucleus decays within the first tenth of a value time is 90%, that it decays within 2 tenths of a value period 90% + 9% = 99%, with 3 tenths of a value period the value is 90% + 9% + 0.9% = 99.9% etc. However, in order to be able to make statements about the remaining quantity, the law of large numbers must apply.
A conversion to the half-life is possible with the factor log (2) ≈ 0.30103.
The application takes place in the same context as with the half-life .