Decay Simulator: Gold-170

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Gold-170 0.29 ms
• Platinum-169 6.99 ms · 89.0%
• Iridium-166 11.7 ms · 11.0%
• Osmium-165 71 ms · 89.8%
• Tungsten-161 409 ms · 80.8%
• Hafnium-157 115 ms · 59.0%
• Ytterbium-153 4.2 s · 55.4%
• Rhenium-162 107 ms · 10.2%
• Tantalum-158 49 ms · 9.6%
• Lutetium-154 unknown · 9.6%
• Rhenium-165 1.6 s · 9.0%
• Tantalum-161 unknown · 23.1%
• Tungsten-165 5.1 s · 7.7%
• Tantalum-165 31.0 s · 7.7%
• Hafnium-165 76 s · 7.7%
• Lutetium-165 10.74 min · 7.7%
• Ytterbium-165 9.8 min · 7.7%
• Thulium-165 30.06 h · 7.7%
• Lutetium-157 7.6 s · 3.5%
• Thulium-153 1.48 s · 3.5%
• Holmium-149 21.0 s · 3.2%
• Tungsten-162 0.99 s · 0.61%
• Tantalum-162 3.56 s · 0.33%
• Hafnium-162 38.7 s · 0.33%
• Lutetium-162 1.37 min · 0.33%
• Ytterbium-162 18.89 min · 0.33%
• Thulium-162 21.80 min · 0.33%
• Erbium-162 stable · 0.33%
• Erbium-153 37.1 s · 0.32%
• Dysprosium-149 4.2 min · 3.4%
• Hafnium-158 2.9 s · 0.28%
• Lutetium-158 10.6 s · 0.16%
• Ytterbium-158 1.49 min · 0.16%
• Thulium-158 3.98 min · 0.16%
• Erbium-158 2.26 h · 0.16%
• Holmium-158 11.3 min · 0.16%
• Ytterbium-154 409 ms · 0.13%
• Erbium-150 18.7 s · 0.12%
• Thulium-154 8.1 s · 0.011%
• Holmium-150 77 s · 0.12%
• Dysprosium-150 7.17 min · 0.12%
• Gadolinium-146 48.27 d · 0.045%
• Terbium-150 3.48 h · 0.077%
• Holmium-153 2.01 min · 0.15%
• Terbium-149 4.12 h · 3.4%
• Europium-145 5.93 d · 0.57%
• Dysprosium-153 6.42 h · 0.15%
• Gadolinium-149 9.28 d · 3.0%

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 - 3, nuclides - 12.

• Hafnium-161 18.4 s · 0.0077%
• Lutetium-161 77 s · 0.0077%
• Ytterbium-161 4.2 min · 0.0077%
• Thulium-161 30.2 min · 0.0077%
• Erbium-161 3.21 h · 0.0077%
• Erbium-154 3.73 min · 0.0049%
• Holmium-154 11.76 min · 0.0049%
• Dysprosium-154 2.8×10⁶ a · 0.0049%
• Ytterbium-157 38.6 s · 2.3×10⁻⁵%
• Thulium-157 3.63 min · 2.3×10⁻⁵%
• Erbium-157 18.65 min · 2.3×10⁻⁵%
• Holmium-157 12.7 min · 2.3×10⁻⁵%

Showing 60 of 81 nuclides in the series.

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.