Decay Simulator: Xenon-148
General data
| Element name | Xenon |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Xe |
| Atomic number Z | 54 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Xenon-148 (Xe-148) |
| Neutron number N | 94 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 148 |
Interactive radioactive decay simulation of Xenon-148: atom-by-atom decay, full decay chain, charts of nuclei count and activity.
| Half-life | 85 ms |
|---|
Radioactive decay series
- Xenon-148 85 ms
- Cesium-148 151 ms
- Barium-148 619 ms · 71.3%
- Lanthanum-148 1.41 s · 71.0%
- Cerium-148 56.8 s · 70.9%
- Praseodymium-148 2.29 min · 70.9%
- Neodymium-148 stable · 70.9%
- Barium-147 894 ms · 28.7%
- Lanthanum-147 4.024 s · 29.0%
- Cerium-147 56.4 s · 29.1%
- Praseodymium-147 13.35 min · 29.1%
- Neodymium-147 11.12 d · 29.1%
- Promethium-147 2.62344 a · 29.1%
- Samarium-147 1.068×10¹¹ a · 29.1%
- Neodymium-143 stable · 29.1%
- Lanthanum-146 6.1 s · 0.02%
- Cerium-146 13.22 min · 0.033%
- Praseodymium-146 24.09 min · 0.033%
- Neodymium-146 stable · 0.033%
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