Decay Simulator: Actinium-204

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Actinium-204 7.4 ms
• Francium-200 50 ms
• Astatine-196 377 ms
• Bismuth-192 34.6 s · 97.5%
• Thallium-188 71 s · 11.7%
• Polonium-196 5.63 s · 2.5%
• Lead-192 3.5 min · 88.1%
• Mercury-188 3.25 min · 11.7%
• Gold-188 8.84 min · 11.7%
• Platinum-188 10.2 d · 11.7%
• Iridium-188 41.5 h · 11.7%
• Osmium-188 stable · 11.7%
• Bismuth-196 5.13 min · 0.15%
• Thallium-192 9.6 min · 88.1%
• Lead-196 37 min · 0.15%
• Mercury-192 4.85 h · 88.1%
• Gold-192 4.94 h · 88.1%
• Platinum-192 stable · 88.1%
• Thallium-196 1.84 h · 0.15%
• Mercury-196 stable · 0.15%

Rare branches (below 0.01%)

Rare branches are transformations that occur in fewer than 0.01% of decays, e.g. double beta decay or cluster emission. The nuclides they produce are practically absent from a sample, so they are hidden by default to keep the main path clear. In this series: branches - 2, nuclides - 7.

• Platinum-184 17.3 min · 4.3×10⁻⁶%
• Iridium-184 3.09 h · 4.3×10⁻⁶%
• Osmium-184 1.12×10¹³ a · 7.4×10⁻⁶%
• Osmium-180 21.5 min · 7.4×10⁻¹¹%
• Rhenium-180 2.46 min · 7.4×10⁻¹¹%
• Tungsten-180 1.59×10¹⁸ a · 7.4×10⁻⁶%
• Hafnium-176 stable · 7.4×10⁻⁶%

How to read the simulation

Grid: each pixel is one atom of the starting isotope. When an atom decays, the pixel takes the colour of the decay product - in decay series mode the product can decay further. The moment each atom decays is random, but the probability follows from the half-life, so after one T½ about half of the atoms remain, after two - about a quarter.

Chart N(t): what percentage of the sample atoms each nuclide makes up at a given moment. The line of the starting isotope falls (by half after each T½), the lines of stable products rise, and those of short-lived ones first rise, then fall.

Chart A(t): activity, i.e. the number of decays per second (becquerel, Bq). It depends on the number of atoms and on how fast they decay: for the same number of atoms, the shorter the T½, the higher the activity.

Simulation time runs faster (or slower) than real time - the time scale slider sets the multiplier. This way you can watch the decay of isotopes that live from fractions of a second to billions of years.

Well-known isotopes

• H-3 - Tritium - glowing watch hands, nuclear fusion fuel.
• C-14 - Radiocarbon dating.
• K-40 - Natural radioactivity - in bananas and in our bodies.
• Co-60 - Radiotherapy and radiation sterilization.
• I-131 - Thyroid treatment; Chernobyl fallout.
• Cs-137 - Long-lasting contamination after Chernobyl and Fukushima.
• Rn-222 - Radon in basements and mines.
• Ra-226 - The longest-lived isotope of radium - the element discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898.
• U-235 - Nuclear power plant fuel; start of the actinium series.
• U-238 - Age of the Earth; start of the uranium series.
• Pu-238 - Power source for space probes (Voyager, Curiosity rover).
• Am-241 - Ionization smoke detectors.