Decay Simulator: Platinum-176

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Platinum-176 6.32 s
• Iridium-176 8.9 s · 60.0%
• Osmium-176 3.6 min · 58.1%
• Rhenium-176 5.3 min · 58.1%
• Tungsten-176 2.5 h · 58.1%
• Tantalum-176 8.08 h · 58.1%
• Hafnium-176 stable · 58.1%
• Osmium-172 19.2 s · 40.0%
• Rhenium-172 15 s · 41.4%
• Tungsten-172 6.6 min · 41.4%
• Tantalum-172 36.8 min · 41.4%
• Hafnium-172 1.87 a · 41.4%
• Lutetium-172 6.702 d · 41.4%
• Ytterbium-172 stable · 41.4%
• Tungsten-168 50.9 s · 0.48%
• Tantalum-168 2.0 min · 0.48%
• Hafnium-168 25.95 min · 0.48%
• Lutetium-168 5.5 min · 0.48%
• Ytterbium-168 stable · 0.48%

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 - 5.

• Hafnium-164 111 s · 1.5×10⁻⁵%
• Lutetium-164 3.15 min · 1.5×10⁻⁵%
• Ytterbium-164 75.8 min · 1.5×10⁻⁵%
• Thulium-164 1.95 min · 1.5×10⁻⁵%
• Erbium-164 stable · 1.5×10⁻⁵%

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.