Decay Simulator: Platinum-178

General data

Radioactive decay series

• Platinum-178 21 s
• Iridium-178 12 s · 92.3%
• Osmium-178 5.0 min · 92.3%
• Rhenium-178 13.2 min · 92.3%
• Tungsten-178 21.6 d · 92.3%
• Tantalum-178 2.41 h · 92.3%
• Hafnium-178 stable · 92.3%
• Osmium-174 44 s · 7.7%
• Rhenium-174 2.38 min · 7.7%
• Tungsten-174 34.3 min · 7.7%
• Tantalum-174 1.08 h · 7.7%
• Hafnium-174 7.0×10¹⁶ a · 7.7%
• Ytterbium-170 unknown · 7.7%

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 - 4.

• Tungsten-170 2.42 min · 0.0015%
• Tantalum-170 6.76 min · 0.0015%
• Hafnium-170 16.01 h · 0.0015%
• Lutetium-170 2.01 d · 0.0015%

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.