Decay Simulator: Bismuth-188
General data
| Element name | Bismuth |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Bi |
| Atomic number Z | 83 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Bismuth-188 (Bi-188) |
| Neutron number N | 105 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 188 |
Interactive radioactive decay simulation of Bismuth-188: atom-by-atom decay, full decay chain, charts of nuclei count and activity.
| Half-life | 60 ms |
|---|
Radioactive decay series
- Bismuth-188 60 ms
- Thallium-184 9.5 s
- Mercury-184 30.9 s · 98.8%
- Gold-184 21 s · 97.7%
- Platinum-184 17.3 min · 97.7%
- Iridium-184 3.09 h · 97.7%
- Osmium-184 1.12×10¹³ a · 97.7%
- Gold-180 7.9 s · 1.2%
- Platinum-180 56 s · 2.3%
- Iridium-180 1.5 min · 2.3%
- Osmium-180 21.5 min · 2.3%
- Rhenium-180 2.46 min · 2.3%
- Tungsten-180 1.59×10¹⁸ a
- Osmium-176 3.6 min · 0.019%
- Rhenium-176 5.3 min · 0.019%
- Tungsten-176 2.5 h · 0.019%
- Tantalum-176 8.08 h · 0.019%
- Hafnium-176 stable
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 - 1, nuclides - 7.
- Iridium-176 8.9 s · 0.0071%
- Rhenium-172 15 s · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
- Tungsten-172 6.6 min · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
- Tantalum-172 36.8 min · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
- Hafnium-172 1.87 a · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
- Lutetium-172 6.702 d · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
- Ytterbium-172 stable · 2.2×10⁻⁴%
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.
Data sources
- NNDC Wallet Cards 2023 - Data as of 15 October 2024 - licence: Public domain