Pollutant Decay & Bioaccumulation

Environmental chemistry tracks pollutants through two coupled processes: chemical breakdown in the environment, and biological concentration as they move up a food chain. This simulation models a persistent pollutant released into a water body, decaying with first-order half-life kinetics, while plankton, small fish and an apex predator biomagnify whatever concentration remains at each trophic step. Adjust the half-life, release rate and biomagnification factor to see why some contaminants vanish quickly while others accumulate to dangerous levels at the top of the food chain long after the source is gone.