Isotopes of neodymium

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Isotopes of neodymium  (60Nd)
Main isotopes [1] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
142Nd27.2% stable
143Nd12.2%stable
144Nd23.8%2.29×1015 yα 140Ce
145Nd8.3%stable
146Nd17.2%stable
148Nd5.80%stable
150Nd5.60%6.7×1018 yββ 150Sm
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Nd)

Naturally occurring neodymium (60Nd) is composed of 5 stable isotopes, 142Nd, 143Nd, 145Nd, 146Nd and 148Nd, with 142Nd being the most abundant (27.2% natural abundance), and 2 long-lived radioisotopes, 144Nd and 150Nd. In all, 33 radioisotopes of neodymium have been characterized up to now, with the most stable being naturally occurring isotopes 144Nd (alpha decay, a half-life (t1/2) of 2.29×1015 years) and 150Nd (double beta decay, t1/2 of 7×1018 years). All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 12 days, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 70 seconds; the most stable artificial isotope is 147Nd with a half-life of 10.98 days. This element also has 13 known meta states with the most stable being 139mNd (t1/2 5.5 hours), 135mNd (t1/2 5.5 minutes) and 133m1Nd (t1/2 ~70 seconds).

Contents

The primary decay modes before the most abundant stable isotope (also the only theoretically stable isotope), 142Nd, are electron capture and positron decay, and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before 142Nd are praseodymium isotopes and the primary products after are promethium isotopes.

Neodymium isotopes as fission products

Neodymium is one of the more common fission products that results from the splitting of uranium-233, uranium-235, plutonium-239 and plutonium-241. The distribution of resulting neodymium isotopes is distinctly different than those found in crustal rock formation on Earth. One of the methods used to verify that the Oklo Fossil Reactors in Gabon had produced a natural nuclear fission reactor some two billion years before present was to compare the relative abundances of neodymium isotopes found at the reactor site with those found elsewhere on Earth. [4] [5] [6]

List of isotopes

Nuclide
[n 1]
Z N Isotopic mass (Da)
[n 2] [n 3]
Half-life
[n 4] [n 5]
Decay
mode

[n 6]
Daughter
isotope

[n 7]
Spin and
parity
[n 8] [n 5]
Natural abundance (mole fraction)
Excitation energy [n 5] Normal proportionRange of variation
124Nd6064123.95223(64)#500# ms0+
125Nd6065124.94888(43)#600(150) ms5/2(+#)
126Nd6066125.94322(43)#1# s [>200 ns]β+126Pr0+
127Nd6067126.94050(43)#1.8(4) sβ+127Pr5/2+#
β+, p (rare)126Ce
128Nd6068127.93539(21)#5# sβ+128Pr0+
β+, p (rare)127Ce
129Nd6069128.93319(22)#4.9(2) sβ+129Pr5/2+#
β+, p (rare)128Ce
130Nd6070129.92851(3)21(3) sβ+130Pr0+
131Nd6071130.92725(3)33(3) sβ+131Pr(5/2)(+#)
β+, p (rare)130Ce
132Nd6072131.923321(26)1.56(10) minβ+132Pr0+
133Nd6073132.92235(5)70(10) sβ+133Pr(7/2+)
133m1Nd127.97(11) keV~70 sβ+133Pr(1/2)+
133m2Nd176.10(10) keV~300 ns(9/2–)
134Nd6074133.918790(13)8.5(15) minβ+134Pr0+
134mNd2293.1(4) keV410(30) µs(8)–
135Nd6075134.918181(21)12.4(6) minβ+135Pr9/2(–)
135mNd65.0(2) keV5.5(5) minβ+135Pr(1/2+)
136Nd6076135.914976(13)50.65(33) minβ+136Pr0+
137Nd6077136.914567(12)38.5(15) minβ+137Pr1/2+
137mNd519.43(17) keV1.60(15) s IT 137Nd(11/2–)
138Nd6078137.911950(13)5.04(9) hβ+138Pr0+
138mNd3174.9(4) keV410(50) ns(10+)
139Nd6079138.911978(28)29.7(5) minβ+139Pr3/2+
139m1Nd231.15(5) keV5.50(20) hβ+ (88.2%)139Pr11/2–
IT (11.8%)139Nd
139m2Nd2570.9+X keV≥141 ns
140Nd6080139.90955(3)3.37(2) d EC 140Pr0+
140mNd2221.4(1) keV600(50) µs7–
141Nd6081140.909610(4)2.49(3) hβ+141Pr3/2+
141mNd756.51(5) keV62.0(8) sIT (99.95%)141Nd11/2–
β+ (.05%)141Pr
142Nd6082141.9077233(25)Stable0+0.272(5)0.2680–0.2730
143Nd [n 9] 6083142.9098143(25) Observationally Stable [n 10] 7/2−0.122(2)0.1212–0.1232
144Nd [n 9] [n 11] 6084143.9100873(25)2.29(16)×1015 y α 140Ce0+0.238(3)0.2379–0.2397
145Nd [n 9] 6085144.9125736(25)Observationally Stable [n 12] 7/2−0.083(1)0.0823–0.0835
146Nd [n 9] 6086145.9131169(25)Observationally Stable [n 13] 0+0.172(3)0.1706–0.1735
147Nd [n 9] 6087146.9161004(25)10.98(1) dβ147Pm5/2−
148Nd [n 9] 6088147.916893(3)Observationally Stable [n 14] 0+0.057(1)0.0566–0.0578
149Nd [n 9] 6089148.920149(3)1.728(1) hβ149Pm5/2−
150Nd [n 9] [n 11] [n 15] 6090149.920891(3)6.7(7)×1018 yββ150Sm0+0.056(2)0.0553–0.0569
151Nd6091150.923829(3)12.44(7) minβ151Pm3/2+
152Nd6092151.924682(26)11.4(2) minβ152Pm0+
153Nd6093152.927698(29)31.6(10) sβ153Pm(3/2)−
154Nd6094153.92948(12)25.9(2) sβ154Pm0+
154m1Nd480(150)# keV1.3(5) µs
154m2Nd1349(10) keV>1 µs(5−)
155Nd6095154.93293(16)#8.9(2) sβ155Pm3/2−#
156Nd6096155.93502(22)5.49(7) sβ156Pm0+
156mNd1432(5) keV135 ns5−
157Nd6097156.93903(21)#1.17(4) s [9] β157Pm5/2−#
158Nd6098157.94160(43)#700# ms [>300 ns]β158Pm0+
159Nd6099158.94609(54)#500# msβ159Pm7/2+#
160Nd60100159.94909(64)#300# msβ160Pm0+
161Nd60101160.95388(75)#200# msβ161Pm1/2−#
This table header & footer:
  1. mNd  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. Bold half-life  nearly stable, half-life longer than age of universe.
  5. 1 2 3 #  Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
  6. Modes of decay:
    EC: Electron capture
    IT: Isomeric transition
    p: Proton emission
  7. Bold symbol as daughter  Daughter product is stable.
  8. () spin value  Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Fission product
  10. Believed to undergo α decay to 139Ce with a half-life over 2.8×1019 years [1] [7] [8]
  11. 1 2 Primordial radionuclide
  12. Believed to undergo α decay to 141Ce with a half-life of over 6.1×1019 years [1] [7] [8]
  13. Believed to undergo ββ decay to 146Sm or α decay to 142Ce with a half-life of over 3.3×1021 years [1] [7] [8]
  14. Believed to undergo ββ decay to 148Sm or α decay to 144Ce with a half-life of over 1.2×1019 years [1] [7] [8]
  15. Predicted to be capable of undergoing triple beta decay and quadruple beta decay with very long partial half-lives

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