Physics:Isotopes of curium

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Main isotopes of Chemistry:curium (96Cm)
Iso­tope Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
242Cm syn 160 d α 238Pu
SF
243Cm syn 29.1 y α 239Pu
ε 243Am
SF
244Cm syn 18.1 y α 240Pu
SF
245Cm syn 8500 y α 241Pu
SF
246Cm syn 4730 y α 242Pu
SF
247Cm syn 1.56×107 y α 243Pu
248Cm syn 3.40×105 y α 244Pu
SF
250Cm syn 9000 y SF
α 246Pu
β 250Bk
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Curium (96Cm) is an artificial element with an atomic number of 96. Because it is an artificial element, a standard atomic weight cannot be given, and it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope synthesized was 242Cm in 1944, which has 146 neutrons.

There are 19 known radioisotopes ranging from 233Cm to 251Cm. There are also ten known nuclear isomers. The longest-lived isotope is 247Cm, with half-life 15.6 million years – orders of magnitude longer than that of any known isotope beyond curium, and long enough to study as a possible extinct radionuclide that would be produced by the r-process.[1][2] It is followed by 248Cm, which has a half-life of 348,000 years. The longest-lived known isomer is 246mCm with a half-life of 1.12 seconds.

List of isotopes


Nuclide
[n 1]
Z N Isotopic mass (u)
[n 2][n 3]
Half-life
[n 4]
Decay
mode

[n 5]
Daughter
isotope

Spin and
parity
[n 6][n 4]
Excitation energy[n 4]
233Cm 96 137 233.05077(9) 2010 27(10) s β+ (80%) 233Am 3/2+#
α (20%) 229Pu
234Cm 96 138 234.050159(18) 2016 52(9) s β+ (71%) 234Am 0+
α (27%) 230Pu
SF (2%) (various)
235Cm 96 139 235.05155(11)# 2020 7(3) min β+? (96%) 235Am 5/2+#
α (4%) 231Pu
236Cm 96 140 236.051372(19) 2010 6.8(8) min β+ (82%) 236Am 0+
α (18%) 232Pu
237Cm 96 141 237.05287(8) 2002 >10# min α (?%) 233Pu 5/2+#
238Cm 96 142 238.053082(13) 1994 2.2(4) h EC? (96.11%) 238Am 0+
α (3.84%) 234Pu
SF (0.048%) (various)
239Cm 96 143 239.05491(16) 2008 2.5(4) h β+ 239Am 7/2−#
α (6.2x10−3%) 235Pu
240Cm 96 144 240.0555282(20) 1949 30.4(37) d α 236Pu 0+
SF (3.9×10−6%) (various)
241Cm 96 145 241.0576512(17) 1952 32.8(2) d EC (99.0%) 241Am 1/2+
α (1.0%) 237Pu
242Cm 96 146 242.0588342(12) 1949 162.8(2) d α[n 7] 238Pu 0+
SF (6.2×10−6%) (various)
CD (1.1×10−14%)[n 8] 208Pb
34Si
242mCm 2800(100) keV 1971 180(70) ns SF? (various)
IT? 242Cm
243Cm 96 147 243.0613873(16) 1950 29.1(1) y α (99.71%) 239Pu 5/2+
EC (0.29%) 243Am
SF (5.3×10−9%) (various)
243mCm 87.4(1) keV 1975 1.08(3) μs IT 243Cm 1/2+
244Cm 96 148 244.0627506(12) 1950 18.11(3) y α 240Pu 0+
SF (1.37×10−4%) (various)
244m1Cm 1040.181(11) keV 1963 34(2) ms IT 244Cm 6+
244m2Cm 1100(900)# xkeV (1969)[n 9] >500 ns SF (various)
245Cm 96 149 245.0654910(12) 1954 8250(70) y α 241Pu 7/2+
SF (6.1×10−7%) (various)
245mCm 355.92(10) keV 1975 290(20) ns IT 245Cm 1/2+
246Cm 96 150 246.0672220(16) 1954 4706(40) y α (99.97%) 242Pu 0+
SF (0.02615%) (various)
246mCm 1179.66(13) keV 2008 1.12(24) s IT 246Cm 8−
247Cm 96 151 247.070353(4) 1954 1.56(5)×107 y α[n 10] 243Pu 9/2−
247m1Cm 227.38(19) keV 1968 26.3(3) μs IT 247Cm 5/2+
247m2Cm 404.90(3) keV 2003 100.6(6) ns IT 247Cm 1/2+
248Cm 96 152 248.0723491(25) 1956 3.48(6)×105 y α (91.61%)[n 11] 244Pu 0+
SF (8.39%) (various)
248mCm 1458.1(10) keV 2019 146(18) μs IT 248Cm 8−#
249Cm 96 153 249.0759540(25) 1956 64.15(3) min β 249Bk 1/2+
249mCm 48.76(4) keV (1966)[n 12] 23 μs 7/2+
250Cm 96 154 250.078358(11) 1966 8300# y[n 13] SF[n 14] (various) 0+
α (?%) 246Pu
β (?%) 250Bk
251Cm 96 155 251.082285(24) 1978 16.8(2) min β 251Bk (3/2+)
  1. mCm – Excited nuclear isomer.
  2. ( ) – Uncertainty (1σ) is given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits.
  3. # – Atomic mass marked #: value and uncertainty derived not from purely experimental data, but at least partly from trends from the Mass Surface (TMS).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 # – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
  5. Modes of decay:
    CD: Cluster decay
    EC: Electron capture
    SF: Spontaneous fission
  6. ( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
  7. Theoretically capable of β+β+ decay to 242Pu
  8. Heaviest known nuclide to undergo cluster decay
  9. Only published in a conference proceeding and not a refereed journal
  10. Theoretically capable of β decay to 247Bk or SF
  11. Theoretically capable of ββ decay to 248Cf
  12. Only quoted from a private communication and not a refereed journal
  13. Only SF has been observed with a half-life 11,300 years; the value given theoretically estimates alpha- and beta-decay branches, which is quite uncertain.[3]
  14. The nuclide with the lowest atomic number known (almost surely) to undergo spontaneous fission as the main decay mode

Actinides vs fission products

Actinides and fission products by half-life v · d · e
Actinides[4] by decay chain Half-life
range (y)
Fission products of 235U by yield<ref>Specifically from thermal neutron fission of U-235, e.g. in a typical nuclear reactor.</ref>
4n 4n+1 4n+2 4n+3
4.5–7% 0.04–1.25% <0.001%
228Ra 4–6 155Euþ
244Cmƒ 241Puƒ 250Cf 227Ac 10–29 90Sr 85Kr 113mCdþ
232Uƒ 238Puƒ 243Cmƒ 29–97 137Cs 151Smþ 121mSn
248Bk[5] 249Cfƒ 242mAmƒ 141–351

No fission products
have a half-life
in the range of
100–210 k years ...

241Amƒ 251Cfƒ[6] 430–900
226Ra 247Bk 1.3 k – 1.6 k
240Pu 229Th 246Cmƒ 243Amƒ 4.7 k – 7.4 k
245Cmƒ 250Cm 8.3 k – 8.5 k
239Puƒ 24.1 k
230Th 231Pa 32 k – 76 k
236Npƒ 233Uƒ 234U 150 k – 250 k 99Tc 126Sn
248Cm 242Pu 327 k – 375 k 79Se
1.53 M 93Zr
237Npƒ 2.1 M – 6.5 M 135Cs 107Pd
236U 247Cmƒ 15 M – 24 M 129I
244Pu 80 M

... nor beyond 15.7 M years[7]

232Th 238U 235Uƒ№ 0.7 G – 14.1 G

Legend for superscript symbols
₡  has thermal neutron capture cross section in the range of 8–50 barns
ƒ  fissile
metastable isomer
№  primarily a naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)
þ  neutron poison (thermal neutron capture cross section greater than 3k barns)
†  range 4–97 y: Medium-lived fission product
‡  over 200,000 y: Long-lived fission product

References

  1. Côté, Benoit; Eichler, Marius; Yagüe López, Andrés; Vassh, Nicole; Mumpower, Matthew R.; Világos, Blanka; Soós, Benjámin; Arcones, Almudena et al. (26 February 2021). "129I and 247Cm in meteorites constrain the last astrophysical source of solar r-process elements". Science 371 (6532): 945–948. doi:10.1126/science.aba1111. PMID 33632846. Bibcode2021Sci...371..945C. 
  2. Davis, A.M.; McKeegan, K.D. (2014). "Short-Lived Radionuclides and Early Solar System Chronology". Treatise on Geochemistry: 383. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-095975-7.00113-3. ISBN 9780080983004. 
  3. "Adopted Levels for 250Cm". NNDC Chart of Nuclides. https://www.nndc.bnl.gov/ensnds/250/Cm/adopted.pdf. 
  4. Plus radium (element 88). While actually a sub-actinide, it immediately precedes actinium (89) and follows a three-element gap of instability after polonium (84) where no nuclides have half-lives of at least four years (the longest-lived nuclide in the gap is radon-222 with a half life of less than four days). Radium's longest lived isotope, at 1,600 years, thus merits the element's inclusion here.
  5. Milsted, J.; Friedman, A. M.; Stevens, C. M. (1965). "The alpha half-life of berkelium-247; a new long-lived isomer of berkelium-248". Nuclear Physics 71 (2): 299. doi:10.1016/0029-5582(65)90719-4. Bibcode1965NucPh..71..299M. 
    "The isotopic analyses disclosed a species of mass 248 in constant abundance in three samples analysed over a period of about 10 months. This was ascribed to an isomer of Bk248 with a half-life greater than 9 y. No growth of Cf248 was detected, and a lower limit for the β half-life can be set at about 104 y. No alpha activity attributable to the new isomer has been detected; the alpha half-life is probably greater than 300 y."
  6. This is the heaviest nuclide with a half-life of at least four years before the "Sea of Instability".
  7. Excluding those "classically stable" nuclides with half-lives significantly in excess of 232Th; e.g., while 113mCd has a half-life of only fourteen years, that of 113Cd is nearly eight quadrillion years.

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