How to Use half-life in a Sentence
half-life
noun-
But the short half-life of 26Al means this growth had to be quick.
—Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2016
-
Delta 8 has a half-life that ranges from 4 to 12 hours based on these factors.
—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023
-
Most of the chemicals that were released in the derailment have a short half-life, Booth said.
—Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 7 Mar. 2023
-
Tritium has a radioactive half-life of a little over 12 years, according to the IAEA.
—Bloomberg News, oregonlive, 3 July 2023
-
Duration of effects: Adrafinil has a longer half-life than Hydrafinil, which means its effects may last longer.
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 1 Aug. 2023
-
Classic-film cable and streaming services have tended to have short half-lives.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2023
-
Uranium has been a hot commodity, and its rally could have a long half-life.
—Jinjoo Lee, WSJ, 9 Jan. 2024
-
All uranium is radioactive, and each isotope has its own unique half-life.
—Kathryn Higley, The Conversation, 16 June 2023
-
By contrast, tritium, the heavy form of hydrogen needed for most other laser fusion concepts, has a half-life of only 12 years.
—Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
-
But the story doesn’t end there, for the compassion for asylum seekers generated by Kurdi’s image proved to have a short half-life.
—Vox Staff, Vox, 3 June 2024
-
Tweets in certain languages had a shorter half-life than others, with 49% of Turkish tweets and 42% of Arabic tweets disappearing over the study period.
—Rob Pegoraro, PCMAG, 20 May 2024
-
Another research benefit of phenibut HCL is its long half-life and duration of effects [1].
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 Aug. 2023
-
To conduct and study chemical reactions, researchers require an element with a half-life of at least half a second.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 14 May 2024
-
His team is working on shortening MDMA’s half-life (the length of time the drug is in effect) and eliminating a weak addictive property.
—Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 29 June 2023
-
The report noted that Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion treatment but said the ketamine in his system could not have been from one of those sessions due to its short half-life.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 9 Jan. 2024
-
The typical half-life of a political debate — even one among legitimate contenders — is about 24 hours.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
-
The radioactive isotope also has a half-life of 30 years, so could potentially pose a risk to the approximately half a million people who live in the area surrounding the power plant for years to come, per CNN.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 16 Mar. 2023
-
Diablo Canyon was initially slated to close in 2025, but Gov. Gavin Newsom extended its half-life as the debate over atomic power’s role amid a changing climate continues to radiate.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2023
-
These levels led the Medical Examiner's Office to conclude that Perry's cause of death was not from his prior infusion therapy —the drug's half-life is just 3 to 4 hours— but rather ketamine that was taken in another manner.
—Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 15 Dec. 2023
-
Each type of material has a distinct half-life in the atmosphere and interacts in different ways with light—both incoming sunlight and infrared radiation traveling from Earth to space.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 31 Oct. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'half-life.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Last Updated: