Decay Simulator: Hafnium-158
General data
| Element name | Hafnium |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Hf |
| Atomic number Z | 72 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Hafnium-158 (Hf-158) |
| Neutron number N | 86 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 158 |
Interactive radioactive decay simulation of Hafnium-158: atom-by-atom decay, full decay chain, charts of nuclei count and activity.
| Half-life | 2.9 s |
|---|
Radioactive decay series
- Hafnium-158 2.9 s
- Lutetium-158 10.6 s · 55.7%
- Ytterbium-158 1.49 min · 55.2%
- Thulium-158 3.98 min · 55.2%
- Erbium-158 2.26 h · 55.2%
- Holmium-158 11.3 min · 55.2%
- Dysprosium-158 stable · 55.2%
- Ytterbium-154 409 ms · 44.3%
- Erbium-150 18.7 s · 41.0%
- Thulium-154 8.1 s · 3.8%
- Holmium-150 77 s · 43.1%
- Erbium-154 3.73 min · 1.7%
- Dysprosium-150 7.17 min · 43.1%
- Gadolinium-146 48.27 d · 15.9%
- Europium-146 4.61 d · 15.9%
- Holmium-154 11.76 min · 1.7%
- Terbium-150 3.48 h · 27.1%
- Dysprosium-154 2.8×10⁶ a · 1.7%
- Gadolinium-150 1.79×10⁶ a · 28.9%
- Samarium-146 6.8×10⁷ a · 44.8%
- Neodymium-142 stable · 44.8%
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