"Know Your Nuclides" is a card game that presents selected, important radionuclides on 32 intricately designed cards. The key nuclear properties can be discovered in a playful way – either as a classic card game (quartet) or as a card game (trumps).
The game uses facts that really matter in nuclear chemistry : Who has the longest half-life, the highest decay energy, the most gamma-ray lines, the most recent year of discovery, or the largest cross-section? This turns learning into a playful competition – and at the same time an introduction to the world of radionuclides.
The maps cover a wide range of topics: from cosmogenic radionuclides and natural decay chains to artificial elements, radionuclides in the context of geochemistry , and radionuclides involved in nuclear accidents, as well as exotic radionuclides and those used in medical applications – there's something interesting for everyone. Short informational texts on the maps also help to better understand the chemical and physical properties, occurrences, and applications of these radionuclides.
The card game "Know Your Nuclides" is sent out twice a year as a welcome gift to new members. It can also be ordered from the Simons Chemiebaukasten online shop.
Images: © 2026 Simons Chemistry Kit
This map represents each experimentally detected nuclide to date using a square containing the element symbol and the nucleon number A. The nuclides are arranged on the map so that the corresponding proton number Z lies on the ordinate and the neutron number N = A - Z on the abscissa. The Karlsruhe Nuclide Map provides precise data on the half-lives, decay modes of radionuclides , and the energies of the radiation they emit. Beyond radiation protection, nuclear and radiochemistry, and astrophysics, it is also used in the life and geosciences (biology, medicine, agriculture, geology, etc.) and materials research.
The brochure with the enclosed fold-out map can be purchased in the Nucleonica Nuclide Shop.
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last modified: 29.05.2026 11:29 H from Translator
