Decay Simulator: Lutetium-160

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Lutetium-160 36.1 s
• Ytterbium-160 4.8 min
• Thulium-160 9.4 min
• Erbium-160 28.58 h
• Holmium-160 25.6 min
• Dysprosium-160 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 - 14.

• Thulium-156 83 s · 1.0×10⁻⁴%
• Erbium-156 19.5 min · 1.0×10⁻⁴%
• Holmium-156 56 min · 1.0×10⁻⁴%
• Dysprosium-156 stable · 1.0×10⁻⁴%
• Holmium-152 147 s · 6.4×10⁻⁸%
• Dysprosium-152 2.38 h · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Terbium-152 17.48 h · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Gadolinium-152 1.08×10¹⁴ a · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Samarium-148 6.8×10¹⁵ a · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Neodymium-144 2.29×10¹⁵ a · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Cerium-140 stable · 5.6×10⁻⁸%
• Terbium-148 60 min · 7.7×10⁻⁹%
• Gadolinium-148 87 a · 7.7×10⁻⁹%
• Samarium-144 stable · 7.7×10⁻⁹%

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.