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For Engineers · Nuclear Decay Chain

Nuclear Decay Chain for a bouncing ball

Built for engineers using it for real design work. Go from concept to a running model in the browser, then scale to the cloud when needed. Simulate a bouncing ball live below — adjust the inputs and watch it respond, right in your browser.

1

Radioactive Decay

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Radioactive DecayLive

Controls

Every half-life, half the remaining atoms decay. After n half-lives, only (1/2)ⁿ is left — the basis of carbon dating and nuclear physics.

Presets

▶ Run in Python

Data Inspector

Half-life4.0
Time0.0
Remaining100.0%
Half-lives0.00

Governing equation

Reading this result: Each half-life removes half of whatever remains, so the curve falls steeply at first and then flattens into a long tail.

Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.

2

Radiometric Dating

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Radiometric DatingLive

Controls

Presets

Radioactive isotopes decay at a fixed half-life, so the fraction remaining in a sample is a clock. Measure it and you can read the age: t = half-life × log₂(1/fraction). Carbon-14 dates organic material up to ~50,000 years; uranium-238, with a 4.5-billion-year half-life, dates the oldest rocks and the age of the Earth itself.

▶ Run in Python

Data Inspector

Half-life5.73e+3 yr
Estimated age5.7 thousand yr
Best fororganic remains < 50k yr

Governing equation

Reading this result: About 50% of the Carbon-14 is left, which maps to roughly 1.0 half-lives of elapsed time.

Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.

3

Radiation Dose

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Radiation DoseLive
Your dose vs common references (mSv, log scale)
Your exposure
0.0031
Dental X-ray
0.0050
Chest X-ray
0.10
Annual limit (public)
1.00
CT scan
7.00
Annual limit (worker)
20.00

Controls

Presets

The three ways to reduce radiation dose are time, distance, and shielding. Dose builds with exposure time but falls with the square of distance — doubling your distance quarters the dose. Effective dose in millisieverts lets you compare any exposure to everyday references like a chest X-ray or the annual background dose. Educational estimate only.

▶ Run in Python

Data Inspector

Dose rate0.0031 mSv/hr
Total dose0.003 mSv
≈ bananas31
Risk levelvery low

Governing equation

Reading this result: At 1 m for 1 h the estimated dose is 0.003 mSv — about 31 banana-equivalents, a low everyday-scale exposure.

Runs locally in your browser — free forever. Scale to the cloud when reality gets heavy.

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More with Nuclear Decay Chain

Frequently asked questions

Is this good for engineers?
Yes — this version of "Nuclear Decay Chain for a bouncing ball" is framed for engineers using it for real design work. Go from concept to a running model in the browser, then scale to the cloud when needed.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in any modern browser, free, with no account required.