16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40
in the Earth's Crust
The following problem shows how the radioactive decay of potassium-40
explains the presence of argon in the Earth's crust and atmosphere. The follow-
up explanation shows how to calculate the age of a rock using potassium-argon
dating.
Problem
The Earth's crust is about 2.1% potassium by weight. The crust has a total mass
of about 2.4 x 1022 kg. All natural potassium is 0.012% potassium-40, a
radioactive isotope with a half-life of 1.2 billion years; the rest consists of stable
isotopes of potassium. Potassium-40 has two ways to decay, producing calcium-
40 89% of the time and argon-40 11% of the time.
1. What is the crustal abundance of potassium-40 in parts per million?
2. What was the crustal abundance of potassium-40 just after the Earth
formed, 4.5 billion years ago?
3. How much potassium-40 has decayed away in the last 4.5 billion years, in
kg?
4. How much argon-40 was produced by the decay of potassium-40 in the
Earth's crust?
5. How much argon now exists in the atmosphere?
Ignore the possible gain or loss of material over time due to mixing between the
crust and the mantle.
Solution
Here are the solutions with detailed calculations. Your answers might be slightly
different due to rounding.
1. Crustal abundance of potassium-40
The crustal abundance of potassium is 2.1% or 0.021. Of this, only 0.012%
(.00012) is radioactive potassium-40. Thus, the crustal abundance of potassium-
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16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
40 is:
0.012 x 0.00012 = 1.4 x 10-6 = 1.4 parts per million at the present
2. Crustal abundance of potassium-40 when the Earth formed
The amount of a radioactive material existing at time N(t) depends on the
original amount N0 , the half-life of the material, and elapsed time t according to
the following equation:
N(t) = N0(1/2)t/(half-life)
If we take the formation of the Earth as time 0 and the present time as 4.5
billion years, then we have:
1.4 = N0(1/2)4.5/1.2
where 1.4 is the present abundance of potassium-40 in parts per million, N0 is
the abundance at time 0 (when the Earth formed), and the time values are in
billions of years. As a result,
N0 = 1.4 / [(0.5)3.75] = 19 parts per million potassium-40 when the Earth
formed
3. Quantity of potassium-40 that has decayed
Shortly after the Earth formed, the abundance of potassium-40 was 19 parts per
million. Now it is 1.4 parts per million. That means that 17.6 parts per million of
the crust, in the form of potassium-40, has decayed away over the past 4.5
billion years. The total decayed mass is equal to the total mass of the crust
multiplied by 17.6 parts per million:
(2.4 x 1022 kg) x (17.6 x 10-6) = 4.2 x 1017 kg of potassium-40 decayed
4. Quantity of argon-40 produced by the decay of potassium-40
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16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
Potassium-40 decays to calcium-40 89% of the time and argon-40 11% of the
time. Therefore, the amount of argon-40 produced by the decay of potassium-40
is 11% of the total mass of potassium that has decayed:
4.2 x 1017 kg x 0.11 = 4.6 x 1016 kg of argon-40 produced in the Earth's
crust
5. Quantity of argon in the Earth's atmosphere
Argon is a common gas, making up 0.9% by volume or 1.3% by mass of the
atmosphere. Only nitrogen and oxygen (and sometimes water vapor, depending
on the humidity) are more plentiful in the atmosphere.
The total mass of the argon in the Earth's atmosphere is
(total mass of atmosphere) x 1.3% =
(5.1 x 1016 kg) x 0.013 = 6.6 x 1014 kg argon in the atmosphere
Thus, the amount of argon in the atmosphere is about 1.4% of the amount of
argon-40 produced in the Earth's crust over the past 4.5 billion years. Most of
the argon produced in the crust remains locked in the rock. Only about 1.4% has
escaped and entered the atmosphere.
Note: The calculations have a precision of two significant digits. Your answers
might be slightly different due to rounding.
Why is the decay of potassium-40 to argon-40
important?
The decay of potassium-40 to argon-40 explains why there is so much argon in
the atmosphere, compared with the other noble gases. Almost all atmospheric
argon (99.6%) is argon-40, whereas the argon in the Sun and stars, produced by
stellar nucleosynthesis, is mostly argon-36. This suggests that primordial argon
is in the form of argon-36 and essentially all of the argon in the atmosphere was
produced by the decay of potassium-40 to argon-40.
The amount of argon still trapped in the Earth's crust is the amount produced
minus the amount that has escaped into the atmosphere:
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16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
(4.6 x 1016) - (6.6 x 1014) = 4.5 x 1016 kg of argon-40 in the Earth's crust
The crustal abundance of argon is the mass of trapped argon-40 divided by the
mass of Earth's crust:
(4.5 x 1016 kg)/(2.4 x 1022 kg) = 2 x 10-6 = 2 parts per million argon in the
Earth's crust
Potassium-argon rock dating
Potassium-argon dating is a technique used to determine the age of rocks.
Because argon is a noble gas, it does not form compounds and remains a gas,
trapped in the solid rock. When the rock is melted by volcanic processes, the
argon becomes mobile and typically separates from the molten rock. When the
rock solidifies, it starts off with no argon. As the solid rock ages, the potassium
in the rock decays, producing argon that is trapped in the rock.
By measuring the amount of potassium and argon in a rock sample, the age of
the rock since it solidified can be determined. For example, a rock taken from a
fresh lava flow will have no argon, whereas a rock that is 1.2 billion years old
(one potassium-40 half-life) will have an amount of argon equal to 11% of the
amount of potassium-40 remaining in the rock. One half-life ago, there was
twice as much potassium-40 in the rock, an amount that has decayed away into
calcium-40 (89%) and argon-40 (11%).
Here is a typical rock dating problem:
Question:
A rock sample is found to contain 1.00 gram of potassium and 6.0 micrograms
of argon. How old is the rock?
Answer:
At the present time, all natural potassium is 0.012% potassium-40. Thus, the
quantity of potassium-40 currently in the rock sample is:
1.00 gram x 0.00012 = 0.00012 grams = 120 micrograms of potassium-40 at
present
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16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
The 6.0 micrograms of argon came from the decay of potassium-40. Potassium-
40 decays to calcium-40 89% of the time and to argon-40 11% of the time.
Therefore, the quantity of potassium-40 that decayed to produced the argon is:
(X micrograms potassium-40) x 0.11 = (6.0 micrograms argon-40)
X = 6.0/0.11 = 55 micrograms potassium-40 decayed to produce argon-40
55 micrograms of potassium-40 decayed away and 120 micrograms remain in
the rock. Therefore, when the rock solidified from a molten form, it contained
120 + 55 = 175 micrograms potassium-40 originally.
Now we have the starting amount, the ending amount, and the half-life of
potassium-40, so we can use the decay formula to find the elapsed time t:
N(t) = N0(1/2)t/(half-life)
Before we plug in the numbers, let's solve the equation for t: First divide both
sides by N0:
N(t)/N0 = (1/2)t/(half-life)
Now take the base-10 logarithm of both sides:
log[ N(t)/N0 ] = log [ (1/2)t/(half-life) ]
= [ t/(half-life) ] log (1/2)
t = (half-life) log[ N(t)/N0 ] / log (1/2)
= (1.2 billion years) log[120/175] / log(0.5) = 2.3 billion years
Note: Your answer might be slightly different due to rounding.
Back to Radioactive Decay Problem Examples
�2013 Gray Chang
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16/09/2025, 13:26 Calculation of Potassium-40 Decay Into Argon-40 and Crustal Abundance of Argon
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