Decay Simulator: Copper-81

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Copper-81 73 ms
• Zinc-80 562 ms · 81.0%
• Zinc-81 299 ms · 19.0%
• Gallium-80 1.9 s · 84.1%
• Gallium-81 1.217 s · 14.8%
• Germanium-80 29.5 s · 85.2%
• Arsenic-80 15.2 s · 85.2%
• Selenium-80 stable · 85.2%
• Germanium-81 6.4 s · 12.9%
• Arsenic-81 33.3 s · 12.9%
• Selenium-81 18.5 min · 12.9%
• Bromine-81 stable · 12.9%
• Gallium-79 2.848 s · 1.1%
• Germanium-79 18.97 s · 1.8%
• Arsenic-79 9.01 min · 1.8%
• Selenium-79 3.3×10⁵ a · 1.8%
• Bromine-79 stable · 1.8%

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 - 3.

• Germanium-78 87 min · 9.8×10⁻⁴%
• Arsenic-78 90.7 min · 9.8×10⁻⁴%
• Selenium-78 stable · 9.8×10⁻⁴%

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.