Decay Simulator: Hafnium-162

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Hafnium-162 38.7 s
• Lutetium-162 1.37 min
• Ytterbium-162 18.89 min
• Thulium-162 21.80 min
• Erbium-162 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 - 15.

• Ytterbium-158 1.49 min · 0.008%
• Thulium-158 3.98 min · 0.008%
• Erbium-158 2.26 h · 0.008%
• Holmium-158 11.3 min · 0.008%
• Dysprosium-158 stable · 0.008%
• Erbium-154 3.73 min · 1.7×10⁻⁷%
• Holmium-154 11.76 min · 1.7×10⁻⁷%
• Dysprosium-154 2.8×10⁶ a · 1.7×10⁻⁷%
• Dysprosium-150 7.17 min · 7.9×10⁻¹⁰%
• Terbium-150 3.48 h · 5.3×10⁻¹⁰%
• Gadolinium-150 1.79×10⁶ a · 1.7×10⁻⁷%
• Gadolinium-146 48.27 d · 2.9×10⁻¹⁰%
• Europium-146 4.61 d · 2.9×10⁻¹⁰%
• Samarium-146 6.8×10⁷ a · 1.7×10⁻⁷%
• Neodymium-142 stable · 1.7×10⁻⁷%

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.