Solved cryptogram
A radioactive atom has no age and no schedule. A half-life is a statement about crowds.
Physics Facts, sourced to HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 69 letters over 19 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
An atom that has sat unchanged for a billion years is no likelier to decay in the next second than one made this morning. There is no aging and no countdown inside it, only a fixed chance per unit of time. That is exactly what makes the bulk behavior so reliable: across enough atoms the randomness averages out into a smooth curve, and the curve is what dates a piece of charcoal or a rock.
The claim comes from HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
- SourceHyperPhysics, Georgia State University
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length69 letters, 19 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 70 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 67 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universityhard, 76 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 72 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.