Labs / Chemistry
Radioactive Decay
Every dot is an unstable nucleus, and each moment it has a fixed chance to decay — no memory, no schedule, just luck. Watch the sample thin out and the curve on the right trace the same exponential shape every time, or drag across the grid to knock a few loose yourself.
Remaining 100.0%Half-lives 0.00Nuclei 280 / 280
What to try
- If each nucleus decays purely at random, why does the whole sample follow such a smooth, predictable curve?
- After one half-life, about half are gone. So why doesn't the sample vanish completely after two half-lives?
- Drag the half-life slider longer. Does the shape of the curve change, or just how fast you travel along it?
- How close does the jagged measured curve hug the ideal smooth one — and what happens to that agreement near the very end, when only a few nuclei remain?
- Knock out a big patch of nuclei by hand, then hit Reset. Does a “head start” change the half-life, or only the starting count?