Decay Simulator: Ytterbium-149
General data
| Element name | Ytterbium |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Yb |
| Atomic number Z | 70 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Ytterbium-149 (Yb-149) |
| Neutron number N | 79 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 149 |
Interactive radioactive decay simulation of Ytterbium-149: atom-by-atom decay, full decay chain, charts of nuclei count and activity.
| Half-life | 0.7 s |
|---|
Radioactive decay series
- Ytterbium-149 0.7 s
- Thulium-149 0.9 s
- Erbium-149 4 s · 99.8%
- Holmium-149 21.0 s · 92.8%
- Dysprosium-149 4.2 min · 92.8%
- Terbium-149 4.12 h · 92.8%
- Gadolinium-149 9.28 d · 77.3%
- Europium-149 93.1 d · 77.3%
- Samarium-149 stable · 77.3%
- Europium-145 5.93 d · 15.5%
- Samarium-145 340 d · 15.5%
- Promethium-145 17.7 a · 15.5%
- Neodymium-145 stable · 15.5%
- Holmium-148 2.2 s · 0.2%
- Dysprosium-148 3.2 min · 7.2%
- Terbium-148 60 min · 7.2%
- Gadolinium-148 87 a · 7.2%
- Samarium-144 stable · 7.2%
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 - 2, nuclides - 13.
- Praseodymium-141 stable · 4.3×10⁻⁸%
- Erbium-148 4.6 s · 0%
- Dysprosium-147 67 s · 0%
- Terbium-147 1.64 h · 0%
- Gadolinium-146 48.27 d · 0%
- Gadolinium-147 38.06 h · 0%
- Europium-146 4.61 d · 0%
- Europium-147 24.1 d · 0%
- Samarium-146 6.8×10⁷ a · 0%
- Samarium-147 1.068×10¹¹ a · 0%
- Promethium-143 265 d · 0%
- Neodymium-142 stable · 0%
- Neodymium-143 stable · 0%
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