Decay Simulator: Fermium-246

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Fermium-246 1.53 s
• Californium-242 3.49 min · 98.6%
• Curium-238 2.2 h · 60.2%
• Plutonium-234 8.8 h · 2.3%
• Einsteinium-246 7.5 min · 1.4%
• Berkelium-242 7.0 min · 38.6%
• Americium-238 97.4 min · 58.2%
• Neptunium-234 4.4 d · 2.2%
• Californium-246 35.7 h · 1.2%
• Curium-242 162.88 d · 39.5%
• Plutonium-238 87.7 a · 97.7%
• Uranium-234 2.455×10⁵ a · 99.9%
• Thorium-230 75400 a · 99.9%
• Radium-226 1600 a · 99.9%
• Radon-222 3.82146 d · 99.9%
• Polonium-218 3.097 min · 99.9%
• Lead-214 27.06 min · 99.8%
• Uranium-230 20.23 d · 0.14%
• Thorium-226 30.69 min · 0.14%
• Radium-222 33.6 s · 0.14%
• Astatine-218 1.28 s · 0.022%
• Bismuth-214 19.71 min · 99.9%
• Radon-218 33.75 ms · 0.14%
• Polonium-214 163.48 μs
• Thallium-210 1.30 min · 0.021%
• Lead-210 22.20 a
• Bismuth-210 5.012 d
• Polonium-210 138.378 d
• Lead-206 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 - 9, nuclides - 10.

• Mercury-206 8.32 min · 1.9×10⁻⁶%
• Thallium-206 4.202 min · 1.3×10⁻⁴%
• Lead-209 3.235 h · 1.5×10⁻⁶%
• Bismuth-209 2.01×10¹⁹ a · 1.5×10⁻⁶%
• Thallium-205 stable · 1.5×10⁻⁶%
• Lead-212 10.628 h · 2.6×10⁻⁹%
• Bismuth-212 60.55 min · 2.6×10⁻⁹%
• Polonium-212 295.0 ns · 1.7×10⁻⁹%
• Thallium-208 3.053 min · 9.3×10⁻¹⁰%
• Lead-208 stable · 2.6×10⁻⁹%

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.