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Isotope Explorer

See how alchemy works. Push atoms through transformations.

isotopesnuclear-datareference
Isotope diagram preview for the Isotope Explorer. Launch

What Are Isotopes?

Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons. For example, carbon-12 and carbon-14 are both carbon, but carbon-14 has 2 more neutrons than carbon-12.

Carbon-12: 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons.
Carbon-14: 6 protons, 8 neutrons, and 6 electrons.

Carbon-12 is stable. It does not decay. Carbon-14 is radioactive. It decays into nitrogen-14.

Carbon-14
→
Nitrogen-14

Many isotopes have an important role to play. We use Iodine-125 for medical imaging, Carbon-14 for determining the age of artifacts, and Uranium-235 for nuclear power. These are just a few examples.

What You Can Do

Play with the isotope explorer to get a feel for isotopes.

  • Pick an element, then one of its isotopes, or choose from a short list of well-known isotopes.
  • Step through the changes an isotope can go through.
  • For radioactive isotopes, you can make it decay.
  • You can add a neutron to any isotope to make a new isotope or make it split into two smaller isotopes.
  • See the chain of changes.

Launch Isotope Explorer