What is the half-life of Iodine-125 (125 I)?

The half-life of Iodine-125 is 59.6 days, which means that after this time period, half of a given amount of Iodine-125 will have decayed into a different, stable element. This half-life is particularly important in the context of medical applications, such as brachytherapy for cancer treatment, where controlled timing of the radioactive decay can be crucial for effective dosage delivery.

Understanding the half-life helps medical dosimetrists determine appropriate treatment times, ensure patient safety, and calculate necessary activity levels for therapeutic procedures. The relatively short half-life of Iodine-125 allows it to be used effectively in clinical settings, where it can deliver localized radiation while minimizing long-term radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissues. The options that list significantly longer or shorter half-lives do not accurately reflect the characteristics of Iodine-125 and are therefore not applicable.