Isotopes of rubidium

Last updated
Main isotopes of rubidium  (37Rb)
Iso­tope Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
82Rb syn 1.2575 m β+ 82Kr
83Rbsyn86.2 d ε 83Kr
γ
84Rbsyn32.9 dε 84Kr
β+84Kr
γ
β 84Sr
85Rb72.17% stable
86Rbsyn18.7 dβ 86Sr
γ
87Rb27.83%4.97×1010 yβ 87Sr
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Rb)
  • 85.4678±0.0003
  • 85.468±0.001 (abridged) [1] [2]

Rubidium (37Rb) has 36 isotopes, with naturally occurring rubidium being composed of just two isotopes; 85Rb (72.2%) and the radioactive 87Rb (27.8%). Normal mixes[ clarification needed ] of rubidium are radioactive enough to fog photographic film in approximately 30 to 60 days.

Contents

87Rb has a half-life of 4.92×1010 years. It readily substitutes for potassium in minerals, and is therefore fairly widespread. 87Rb has been used extensively in dating rocks; 87Rb decays to stable strontium-87 by emission of a beta particle (an electron ejected from the nucleus). During fractional crystallization, Sr tends to become concentrated in plagioclase, leaving Rb in the liquid phase. Hence, the Rb/Sr ratio in residual magma may increase over time, resulting in rocks with increasing Rb/Sr ratios with increasing differentiation. The highest ratios (10 or higher) occur in pegmatites. If the initial amount of Sr is known or can be extrapolated, the age can be determined by measurement of the Rb and Sr concentrations and the 87Sr/86Sr ratio. The dates indicate the true age of the minerals only if the rocks have not been subsequently altered. See rubidium–strontium dating for a more detailed discussion.

Other than 87Rb, the longest-lived radioisotopes are 83Rb with a half-life of 86.2 days, 84Rb with a half-life of 33.1 days, and 86Rb with a half-life of 18.642 days. All other radioisotopes have half-lives less than a day.

82Rb is used in some cardiac positron emission tomography scans to assess myocardial perfusion. It has a half-life of 1.273 minutes. It does not exist naturally, but can be made from the decay of 82Sr.

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] [n 8]
Spin and
parity
[n 9] [n 5]
Natural abundance (mole fraction)
Excitation energy [n 5] Normal proportionRange of variation
71Rb373470.96532(54)# p 70Kr5/2−#
72Rb373571.95908(54)#<1.5 μsp71Kr3+#
72mRb100(100)# keV1# μsp71Kr1−#
73Rb373672.95056(16)#<30 nsp72Kr3/2−#
74Rb373773.944265(4)64.76(3) ms β+ 74Kr(0+)
75Rb373874.938570(8)19.0(12) sβ+75Kr(3/2−)
76Rb373975.9350722(20)36.5(6) sβ+76Kr1(−)
β+, α (3.8×10−7%)72Se
76mRb316.93(8) keV3.050(7) μs(4+)
77Rb374076.930408(8)3.77(4) minβ+77Kr3/2−
78Rb374177.928141(8)17.66(8) minβ+78Kr0(+)
78mRb111.20(10) keV5.74(5) minβ+ (90%)78Kr4(−)
IT (10%)78Rb
79Rb374278.923989(6)22.9(5) minβ+79Kr5/2+
80Rb374379.922519(7)33.4(7) sβ+80Kr1+
80mRb494.4(5) keV1.6(2) μs6+
81Rb374480.918996(6)4.570(4) hβ+81Kr3/2−
81mRb86.31(7) keV30.5(3) minIT (97.6%)81Rb9/2+
β+ (2.4%)81Kr
82 Rb 374581.9182086(30)1.273(2) minβ+82Kr1+
82mRb69.0(15) keV6.472(5) hβ+ (99.67%)82Kr5−
IT (.33%)82Rb
83Rb374682.915110(6)86.2(1) d EC 83Kr5/2−
83mRb42.11(4) keV7.8(7) msIT83Rb9/2+
84Rb374783.914385(3)33.1(1) dβ+ (96.2%)84Kr2−
β (3.8%)84Sr
84mRb463.62(9) keV20.26(4) minIT (>99.9%)84Rb6−
β+ (<.1%)84Kr
85Rb [n 10] 374884.911789738(12)Stable5/2−0.7217(2)
86Rb374985.91116742(21)18.642(18) dβ (99.9948%)86Sr2−
EC (.0052%)86Kr
86mRb556.05(18) keV1.017(3) minIT86Rb6−
87Rb [n 11] [n 12] [n 10] 375086.909180527(13)4.923(22)×1010 yβ87Sr3/2−0.2783(2)
88Rb375187.91131559(17)17.773(11) minβ88Sr2−
89Rb375288.912278(6)15.15(12) minβ89Sr3/2−
90Rb375389.914802(7)158(5) sβ90Sr0−
90mRb106.90(3) keV258(4) sβ (97.4%)90Sr3−
IT (2.6%)90 Rb
91Rb375490.916537(9)58.4(4) sβ91Sr3/2(−)
92Rb375591.919729(7)4.492(20) sβ (99.98%)92Sr0−
β, n (.0107%)91Sr
93Rb375692.922042(8)5.84(2) sβ (98.65%)93Sr5/2−
β, n (1.35%)92Sr
93mRb253.38(3) keV57(15) μs(3/2−,5/2−)
94Rb375793.926405(9)2.702(5) sβ (89.99%)94Sr3(−)
β, n (10.01%)93Sr
95Rb375894.929303(23)377.5(8) msβ (91.27%)95Sr5/2−
β, n (8.73%)94Sr
96Rb375995.93427(3)202.8(33) msβ (86.6%)96Sr2+
β, n (13.4%)95Sr
96mRb0(200)# keV200# ms [>1 ms]β96Sr1(−#)
IT96Rb
β, n95Sr
97Rb376096.93735(3)169.9(7) msβ (74.3%)97Sr3/2+
β, n (25.7%)96Sr
98Rb376197.94179(5)114(5) msβ(86.14%)98Sr(0,1)(−#)
β, n (13.8%)97Sr
β, 2n (.051%)96Sr
98mRb290(130) keV96(3) msβ97Sr(3,4)(+#)
99Rb376298.94538(13)50.3(7) msβ (84.1%)99Sr(5/2+)
β, n (15.9%)98Sr
100Rb376399.94987(32)#51(8) msβ (94.25%)100Sr(3+)
β, n (5.6%)99Sr
β, 2n (.15%)98Sr
101Rb3764100.95320(18)32(5) msβ (69%)101Sr(3/2+)#
β, n (31%)100Sr
102Rb3765101.95887(54)#37(5) msβ (82%)102Sr
β, n (18%)101Sr
103Rb [3] 376626 msβ103Sr
104Rb [4] 376735# ms (>550 ns)β?104Sr
105Rb [5] 3768
106Rb [5] 3769
This table header & footer:
  1. mRb  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
    n: Neutron emission
    p: Proton emission
  7. Bold italics symbol as daughter  Daughter product is nearly stable.
  8. Bold symbol as daughter  Daughter product is stable.
  9. () spin value  Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
  10. 1 2 Fission product
  11. Primordial radionuclide
  12. Used in rubidium–strontium dating

Rubidium-87

Rubidium-87 is an isotope of rubidium. Rubidium-87 was the first and the most popular atom for making Bose–Einstein condensates in dilute atomic gases. Even though rubidium-85 is more abundant, rubidium-87 has a positive scattering length, which means it is mutually repulsive, at low temperatures. This prevents a collapse of all but the smallest condensates. It is also easy to evaporatively cool, with a consistent strong mutual scattering. There is also a strong supply of cheap uncoated diode lasers typically used in CD writers, which can operate at the correct wavelength.

Rubidium-87 has an atomic mass of 86.9091835 u, and a binding energy of 757,853 keV. Its atomic percent abundance is 27.835%, and has a half-life of 4.92×1010 years.

Related Research Articles

Bismuth (83Bi) has 41 known isotopes, ranging from 184Bi to 224Bi. Bismuth has no stable isotopes, but does have one very long-lived isotope; thus, the standard atomic weight can be given as 208.98040(1). Although bismuth-209 is now known to be radioactive, it has classically been considered to be a stable isotope because it has a half-life of approximately 2.01×1019 years, which is more than a billion times the age of the universe. Besides 209Bi, the most stable bismuth radioisotopes are 210mBi with a half-life of 3.04 million years, 208Bi with a half-life of 368,000 years and 207Bi, with a half-life of 32.9 years, none of which occurs in nature. All other isotopes have half-lives under 1 year, most under a day. Of naturally occurring radioisotopes, the most stable is radiogenic 210Bi with a half-life of 5.012 days. 210mBi is unusual for being a nuclear isomer with a half-life multiple orders of magnitude longer than that of the ground state.

Naturally occurring terbium (65Tb) is composed of one stable isotope, 159Tb. Thirty-seven radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 158Tb with a half-life of 180 years, 157Tb with a half-life of 71 years, and 160Tb with a half-life of 72.3 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 6.907 days, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 24 seconds. This element also has 27 meta states, with the most stable being 156m1Tb, 154m2Tb and 154m1Tb.

Naturally occurring europium (63Eu) is composed of two isotopes, 151Eu and 153Eu, with 153Eu being the most abundant (52.2% natural abundance). While 153Eu is observationally stable, 151Eu was found in 2007 to be unstable and undergo alpha decay. The half-life is measured to be (4.62 ± 0.95(stat.) ± 0.68(syst.)) × 1018 years which corresponds to 1 alpha decay per two minutes in every kilogram of natural europium. Besides the natural radioisotope 151Eu, 36 artificial radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 150Eu with a half-life of 36.9 years, 152Eu with a half-life of 13.516 years, 154Eu with a half-life of 8.593 years, and 155Eu with a half-life of 4.7612 years. The majority of the remaining radioactive isotopes, which range from 130Eu to 170Eu, have half-lives that are less than 12.2 seconds. This element also has 18 meta states, with the most stable being 150mEu (t1/2 12.8 hours), 152m1Eu (t1/2 9.3116 hours) and 152m2Eu (t1/2 96 minutes).

Promethium (61Pm) is an artificial element, except in trace quantities as a product of spontaneous fission of 238U and 235U and alpha decay of 151Eu, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. It was first synthesized in 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isotopes of lanthanum</span> Nuclides with atomic number of 57 but with different mass numbers

Naturally occurring lanthanum (57La) is composed of one stable (139La) and one radioactive (138La) isotope, with the stable isotope, 139La, being the most abundant (99.91% natural abundance). There are 38 radioisotopes that have been characterized, with the most stable being 138La, with a half-life of 1.02×1011 years; 137La, with a half-life of 60,000 years and 140La, with a half-life of 1.6781 days. The remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than a day and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 1 minute. This element also has 12 nuclear isomers, the longest-lived of which is 132mLa, with a half-life of 24.3 minutes.

Antimony (51Sb) occurs in two stable isotopes, 121Sb and 123Sb. There are 35 artificial radioactive isotopes, the longest-lived of which are 125Sb, with a half-life of 2.75856 years; 124Sb, with a half-life of 60.2 days; and 126Sb, with a half-life of 12.35 days. All other isotopes have half-lives less than 4 days, most less than an hour.

Indium (49In) consists of two primordial nuclides, with the most common (~ 95.7%) nuclide (115In) being measurably though weakly radioactive. Its spin-forbidden decay has a half life of 4.41×1014 years.

Naturally occurring palladium (46Pd) is composed of six stable isotopes, 102Pd, 104Pd, 105Pd, 106Pd, 108Pd, and 110Pd, although 102Pd and 110Pd are theoretically unstable. The most stable radioisotopes are 107Pd with a half-life of 6.5 million years, 103Pd with a half-life of 17 days, and 100Pd with a half-life of 3.63 days. Twenty-three other radioisotopes have been characterized with atomic weights ranging from 90.949 u (91Pd) to 128.96 u (129Pd). Most of these have half-lives that are less than a half an hour except 101Pd, 109Pd, and 112Pd.

Naturally occurring rhodium (45Rh) is composed of only one stable isotope, 103Rh. The most stable radioisotopes are 101Rh with a half-life of 3.3 years, 102Rh with a half-life of 207 days, and 99Rh with a half-life of 16.1 days. Thirty other radioisotopes have been characterized with atomic weights ranging from 88.949 u (89Rh) to 121.943 u (122Rh). Most of these have half-lives that are less than an hour except 100Rh and 105Rh. There are also numerous meta states with the most stable being 102mRh (0.141 MeV) with a half-life of about 3.7 years and 101mRh (0.157 MeV) with a half-life of 4.34 days.

Naturally occurring niobium (41Nb) is composed of one stable isotope (93Nb). The most stable radioisotope is 92Nb with a half-life of 34.7 million years. The next longest-lived niobium isotopes are 94Nb and 91Nb with a half-life of 680 years. There is also a meta state of 93Nb at 31 keV whose half-life is 16.13 years. Twenty-seven other radioisotopes have been characterized. Most of these have half-lives that are less than two hours, except 95Nb, 96Nb and 90Nb. The primary decay mode before stable 93Nb is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta emission with some neutron emission occurring in 104–110Nb.

Naturally occurring zirconium (40Zr) is composed of four stable isotopes (of which one may in the future be found radioactive), and one very long-lived radioisotope (96Zr), a primordial nuclide that decays via double beta decay with an observed half-life of 2.0×1019 years; it can also undergo single beta decay, which is not yet observed, but the theoretically predicted value of t1/2 is 2.4×1020 years. The second most stable radioisotope is 93Zr, which has a half-life of 1.53 million years. Thirty other radioisotopes have been observed. All have half-lives less than a day except for 95Zr (64.02 days), 88Zr (83.4 days), and 89Zr (78.41 hours). The primary decay mode is electron capture for isotopes lighter than 92Zr, and the primary mode for heavier isotopes is beta decay.

Natural yttrium (39Y) is composed of a single isotope yttrium-89. The most stable radioisotopes are 88Y, which has a half-life of 106.6 days and 91Y with a half-life of 58.51 days. All the other isotopes have half-lives of less than a day, except 87Y, which has a half-life of 79.8 hours, and 90Y, with 64 hours. The dominant decay mode below the stable 89Y is electron capture and the dominant mode after it is beta emission. Thirty-five unstable isotopes have been characterized.

The alkaline earth metal strontium (38Sr) has four stable, naturally occurring isotopes: 84Sr (0.56%), 86Sr (9.86%), 87Sr (7.0%) and 88Sr (82.58%). Its standard atomic weight is 87.62(1).

Bromine (35Br) has two stable isotopes, 79Br and 81Br, and 32 known radioisotopes, the most stable of which is 77Br, with a half-life of 57.036 hours.

Germanium (32Ge) has five naturally occurring isotopes, 70Ge, 72Ge, 73Ge, 74Ge, and 76Ge. Of these, 76Ge is very slightly radioactive, decaying by double beta decay with a half-life of 1.78 × 1021 years (130 billion times the age of the universe).

Naturally occurring chromium (24Cr) is composed of four stable isotopes; 50Cr, 52Cr, 53Cr, and 54Cr with 52Cr being the most abundant (83.789% natural abundance). 50Cr is suspected of decaying by β+β+ to 50Ti with a half-life of (more than) 1.8×1017 years. Twenty-two radioisotopes, all of which are entirely synthetic, have been characterized, the most stable being 51Cr with a half-life of 27.7 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 24 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 1 minute. This element also has two meta states, 45mCr, the more stable one, and 59mCr, the least stable isotope or isomer.

Naturally occurring vanadium (23V) is composed of one stable isotope 51V and one radioactive isotope 50V with a half-life of 1.5×1017 years. 24 artificial radioisotopes have been characterized (in the range of mass number between 40 and 65) with the most stable being 49V with a half-life of 330 days, and 48V with a half-life of 15.9735 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives shorter than an hour, the majority of them below 10 seconds, the least stable being 42V with a half-life shorter than 55 nanoseconds, with all of the isotopes lighter than it, and none of the heavier, have unknown half-lives. In 4 isotopes, metastable excited states were found (including 2 metastable states for 60V), which adds up to 5 meta states.

Naturally occurring scandium (21Sc) is composed of one stable isotope, 45Sc. Twenty-five radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 46Sc with a half-life of 83.8 days, 47Sc with a half-life of 3.35 days, and 48Sc with a half-life of 43.7 hours and 44Sc with a half-life of 3.97 hours. All the remaining isotopes have half-lives that are less than four hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than two minutes, the least stable being proton unbound 39Sc with a half-life shorter than 300 nanoseconds. This element also has 13 meta states with the most stable being 44m2Sc.

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.

Einsteinium (99Es) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all synthetic elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be discovered was 253Es in 1952. There are 18 known radioisotopes from 240Es to 257Es, and 3 nuclear isomers. The longest-lived isotope is 252Es with a half-life of 471.7 days, or around 1.293 years.

References

  1. "Standard Atomic Weights: Rubidium". CIAAW. 1969.
  2. Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; et al. (2022-05-04). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN   1365-3075.
  3. Ohnishi, Tetsuya; Kubo, Toshiyuki; Kusaka, Kensuke; et al. (2010). "Identification of 45 New Neutron-Rich Isotopes Produced by In-Flight Fission of a 238U Beam at 345 MeV/nucleon". J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Physical Society of Japan. 79 (7): 073201. doi: 10.1143/JPSJ.79.073201 .
  4. Shimizu, Yohei; et al. (2018). "Observation of New Neutron-rich Isotopes among Fission Fragments from In-flight Fission of 345 MeV/Nucleon 238U: Search for New Isotopes Conducted Concurrently with Decay Measurement Campaigns". Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. 87: 014203. doi: 10.7566/JPSJ.87.014203 .
  5. 1 2 Sumikama, T.; et al. (2021). "Observation of new neutron-rich isotopes in the vicinity of 110Zr". Physical Review C. 103 (1): 014614. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.103.014614. hdl: 10261/260248 . S2CID   234019083.