This is a simulation of the radioactive decay of 110 radioactive nuclei.
They all start off as the parent nucleus (shown in dark red). With each time step some of the nuclei decay (they send out an alpha particle or beta particle and then change into a daughter nucleus - shown in blue). Since it is impossible to predict when each nucleus will decay, each time through the simulator will be unique!
Instructions:
- Choose a half-life
- Click the Step button. Each step advances the decay of the nuclei.
- Make a table with the time step and the number of parent nuclei remaining. You can then use a spread sheet (like Excel) to plot your data to get the decay graph. From that graph you can estimate the half-life.
