Re: Practical demonstration of a half-life

[John Pickering <johnjp@email.sjsu.edu>]

Mark,

One method I used before that helped. I picked a subject that the group
could relate to, money.  First I gave them a simple equation, one dollar in
US currency would equal one dollar in Canadian currency.

Next I told them on Monday they had $100 in US currency and $0 in Canadian
currency.
They liked having $100 in any currency.
On Tuesday half of the US money was converted to Canadian currency ($50) for
a planned trip to Canada. On Wednesdey half of the remaining US money was
converted to Canadian currency (25) because they decided they may need more.
On Thursday half of the remaining US money was converted to Canadian
currency ($12.5) again for the same reason.

Then I asked them how much money did they have by Friday morning. They all
came up with the quantity of $100 in varous amounts of US and Canadian
currency.