Simulating Radioactive Decay with Dice
Materials: ★☆☆ Easy to get from supermarket or hardware store
Difficulty: ★☆☆ Can be easily done by most teenagers
Safety: ★☆☆ Minimal safety procedures required
Categories: Nuclear Physics
Alternative titles: Modeling Half-Life with Dice
Summary
This demonstration uses dice to represent unstable nuclei. By rolling the dice repeatedly and removing those that show a 6, students can model the random process of radioactive decay and visualize how the number of undecayed nuclei decreases over time, illustrating the concept of half-life.
Procedure
- Begin with 100 dice, each representing a radioactive nucleus.
- Roll all the dice at once.
- Remove any dice that show a 6, as these represent nuclei that have decayed.
- Record the number of dice that remain undecayed.
- Repeat the rolling, removing, and recording process multiple times until few or no dice remain.
- Plot the number of remaining dice after each roll to show the decay curve.
Links
Simulating Radioactive Decay - QuantumBoffin:
Simulating Radioactive Decay With Dice - Physics Experiment - vt.physics:
📄 Decay with dice worksheet - Spice: https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/-/media/faculties/science/docs/activity-decay-with-dice.pdf
📄🕹️ Half-Life Simulation - Alyssa J. Pasquale, Ph.D.: https://doctor-pasquale.com/simulations/halfLife.html
Variations
- Start with more or fewer dice to compare results.
- Use different rules, such as removing dice on both 5s and 6s, to simulate isotopes with different decay probabilities.
- Conduct the experiment with groups and compare decay curves to see variability in results.
Safety Precautions
- No specific safety equipment required.
- Ensure dice are not thrown forcefully to avoid damage or injury.
Questions to Consider
- Why is the decay of each nucleus considered random? (Because quantum processes that determine decay cannot be predicted for an individual nucleus.)
- Why does the overall decay follow a predictable pattern despite randomness? (Large numbers of nuclei average out to produce a consistent exponential decay.)
- What does the number of dice removed each round represent in terms of radioactive decay? (It represents the number of nuclei that decayed in that time interval.)
- How does this model illustrate the concept of half-life? (The time it takes for about half of the dice to be removed corresponds to the half-life of the sample.)