Decay Simulator: Platinum-170

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Platinum-170 13.9 ms
• Osmium-166 212 ms
• Tungsten-162 0.99 s · 83.0%
• Hafnium-158 2.9 s · 38.2%
• Rhenium-166 2.25 s · 17.0%
• Tantalum-162 3.56 s · 48.9%
• Lutetium-158 10.6 s · 21.3%
• Ytterbium-154 409 ms · 16.9%
• Erbium-150 18.7 s · 15.7%
• Tungsten-166 19.2 s · 12.9%
• Hafnium-162 38.7 s · 48.9%
• Lutetium-162 1.37 min · 48.9%
• Ytterbium-162 18.89 min · 48.9%
• Thulium-162 21.80 min · 48.9%
• Erbium-162 stable · 48.9%
• Ytterbium-158 1.49 min · 21.1%
• Thulium-158 3.98 min · 21.1%
• Erbium-158 2.26 h · 21.1%
• Holmium-158 11.3 min · 21.1%
• Dysprosium-158 stable · 21.1%
• Tantalum-166 34.4 s · 12.9%
• Hafnium-166 6.8 min · 12.9%
• Lutetium-166 2.65 min · 12.9%
• Ytterbium-166 56.7 h · 12.9%
• Thulium-166 7.70 h · 12.9%
• Erbium-166 stable · 12.9%
• Thulium-154 8.1 s · 1.4%
• Holmium-150 77 s · 16.4%
• Erbium-154 3.73 min · 0.67%
• Dysprosium-150 7.17 min · 16.4%
• Gadolinium-146 48.27 d · 6.1%
• Europium-146 4.61 d · 6.1%
• Holmium-154 11.76 min · 0.66%
• Terbium-150 3.48 h · 10.4%
• Dysprosium-154 2.8×10⁶ a · 0.66%
• Gadolinium-150 1.79×10⁶ a · 11.0%
• Samarium-146 6.8×10⁷ a · 17.1%
• Neodymium-142 stable · 17.1%

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.