Decay Simulator: Tantalum-159
General data
| Element name | Tantalum |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Ta |
| Atomic number Z | 73 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Tantalum-159 (Ta-159) |
| Neutron number N | 86 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 159 |
Interactive radioactive decay simulation of Tantalum-159: atom-by-atom decay, full decay chain, charts of nuclei count and activity.
| Half-life | 1.04 s |
|---|
Radioactive decay series
- Tantalum-159 1.04 s
- Hafnium-159 5.2 s · 66.0%
- Lutetium-159 12.1 s · 58.1%
- Ytterbium-159 1.73 min · 58.1%
- Thulium-159 9.13 min · 58.1%
- Erbium-159 36 min · 58.1%
- Holmium-159 33.05 min · 58.1%
- Dysprosium-159 145.3 d · 58.1%
- Terbium-159 stable · 58.1%
- Lutetium-155 67 ms · 34.0%
- Thulium-151 4.17 s · 29.9%
- Ytterbium-155 1.79 s · 12.0%
- Erbium-151 23.5 s · 40.6%
- Thulium-155 21.6 s · 1.3%
- Holmium-151 35.2 s · 40.6%
- Terbium-147 1.64 h · 8.9%
- Erbium-155 5.3 min · 1.3%
- Dysprosium-151 18.0 min · 31.7%
- Terbium-151 17.609 h · 29.9%
- Gadolinium-151 124.5 d · 29.9%
- Europium-151 4.6×10¹⁸ a · 29.9%
- Promethium-147 2.62344 a · 29.9%
- Gadolinium-147 38.06 h · 10.7%
- Europium-147 24.1 d · 10.7%
- Samarium-147 1.068×10¹¹ a · 40.6%
- Holmium-155 48 min · 1.3%
- Dysprosium-155 9.92 h · 1.3%
- Terbium-155 5.32 d · 1.3%
- Gadolinium-155 stable · 1.3%
- Neodymium-143 stable · 40.6%
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 - 1.
- Promethium-143 265 d · 2.4×10⁻⁴%
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.
Data sources
- NNDC Wallet Cards 2023 - Data as of 15 October 2024 - licence: Public domain