Isotopes of nickel

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Naturally occurring nickel (Ni) is composed of 5 stable isotopes; 58Ni, 60Ni, 61Ni, 62Ni and 64Ni with 58Ni being the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance). 18 radioisotopes have been characterised with the most stable being 59Ni with a half-life of 76,000 years, 63Ni with a half-life of 100.1 years, and 56Ni with a half-life of 6.077 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 60 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 30 seconds. This element also has 1 meta state.

Nickel-56 is produced in large quantities in type Ia supernovae and the shape of the light curve of these supernovae corresponds to the decay of nickel-56 to cobalt-56 and then to iron-56.

Nickel-59 is a long-lived cosmogenic radionuclide with a half-life of 76,000 years. 59Ni has found many applications in isotope geology. 59Ni has been used to date the terrestrial age of meteorites and to determine abundances of extraterrestrial dust in ice and sediment. Nickel-60 is the daughter product of the extinct radionuclide 60Fe (half-life = 1.5 Myr). Because the extinct radionuclide 60Fe had such a long half-life, its persistence in materials in the solar system at high enough concentrations may have generated observable variations in the isotopic composition of 60Ni. Therefore, the abundance of 60Ni present in extraterrestrial material may provide insight into the origin of the solar system and its early history.

Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon of any isotope for any element. Isotopes heavier than 62Ni cannot be formed by nuclear fusion without losing energy.

Nickel-48, discovered in 1999, is the most proton-rich nickel isotope known . With 28 protons and 20 neutrons 48Ni is "doubly magic" (like 208Pb) and therefore unusually stable [1].

The isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48 u (48-Ni) to 78 u (78-Ni). Nickel-78's half-life was recently measured to be 110 milliseconds and is believed to be an important isotope involved in supernova nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron. [1]
Standard atomic mass: 58.6934(2) u

Table

nuclide
symbol
Z(p) N(n)  
isotopic mass (u)
 
half-life nuclear
spin
representative
isotopic
composition
(mole fraction)
range of natural
variation
(mole fraction)
excitation energy
48Ni 28 20 48.01975(54)# 10# ms [>500 ns] 0+
49Ni 28 21 49.00966(43)# 13(4) ms [12(+5-3) ms] 7/2-#
50Ni 28 22 49.99593(28)# 9.1(18) ms 0+
51Ni 28 23 50.98772(28)# 30# ms [>200 ns] 7/2-#
52Ni 28 24 51.97568(9)# 38(5) ms 0+
53Ni 28 25 52.96847(17)# 45(15) ms (7/2-)#
54Ni 28 26 53.95791(5) 104(7) ms 0+
55Ni 28 27 54.951330(12) 204.7(17) ms 7/2-
56Ni 28 28 55.942132(12) 6.075(10) d 0+
57Ni 28 29 56.9397935(19) 35.60(6) h 3/2-
58Ni 28 30 57.9353429(7) STABLE [>700E+18 a] 0+ 0.680769(89)
59Ni 28 31 58.9343467(7) 7.6(5)E+4 a 3/2-
60Ni 28 32 59.9307864(7) STABLE 0+ 0.262231(77)
61Ni 28 33 60.9310560(7) STABLE 3/2- 0.011399(6)
62Ni 28 34 61.9283451(6) STABLE 0+ 0.036345(17)
63Ni 28 35 62.9296694(6) 100.1(20) a 1/2-
63mNi 87.15(11) keV 1.67(3) µs 5/2-
64Ni 28 36 63.9279660(7) STABLE 0+ 0.009256(9)
65Ni 28 37 64.9300843(7) 2.5172(3) h 5/2-
65mNi 63.37(5) keV 69(3) µs 1/2-
66Ni 28 38 65.9291393(15) 54.6(3) h 0+
67Ni 28 39 66.931569(3) 21(1) s 1/2-
67mNi 1007(3) keV 13.3(2) µs 9/2+
68Ni 28 40 67.931869(3) 29(2) s 0+
68m1Ni 1770.0(10) keV 276(65) ns 0+
68m2Ni 2849.1(3) keV 860(50) µs 5-
69Ni 28 41 68.935610(4) 11.5(3) s 9/2+
69m1Ni 321(2) keV 3.5(4) s (1/2-)
69m2Ni 2701(10) keV 439(3) ns (17/2-)
70Ni 28 42 69.93650(37) 6.0(3) s 0+
70mNi 2860(2) keV 232(1) ns 8+
71Ni 28 43 70.94074(40) 2.56(3) s 1/2-#
72Ni 28 44 71.94209(47) 1.57(5) s 0+
73Ni 28 45 72.94647(32)# 0.84(3) s (9/2+)
74Ni 28 46 73.94807(43)# 0.68(18) s 0+
75Ni 28 47 74.95287(43)# 0.6(2) s (7/2+)#
76Ni 28 48 75.95533(97)# 470(390) ms [0.24(+55-24) s] 0+
77Ni 28 49 76.96055(54)# 300# ms [>300 ns] 9/2+#
78Ni 28 50 77.96318(118)# 200# ms [>300 ns] 0+

Notes

  • Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from systematic trends. Spins with weak assignment arguments are enclosed in parentheses.
  • Uncertainties are given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits. Uncertainty values denote one standard deviation, except isotopic composition and standard atomic mass from IUPAC which use expanded uncertainties.

References

  1. W., P. (October 23, 1999). "Twice-magic metal makes its debut - isotope of nickel". Science News. Retrieved 2006-09-29.

See also

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