Isotopes of nickel

Naturally occurring nickel (Ni) is composed of five stable isotopes; 58
Ni, 60
Ni, 61
Ni, 62
Ni and 64
Ni with 58
Ni being the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance).^{[1] 58}Ni may decay by double beta-plus decay to ⁵⁸Fe.^[2] 26 radioisotopes have been characterised with the most stable being 59
Ni with a half-life of 76,000 years, 63
Ni with a half-life of 100.1 years, and 56
Ni 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.

The isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48
Ni to 78
Ni.

Nickel-48, discovered in 1999, is the most neutron-poor nickel isotope known. With 28 protons and 20 neutrons 48
Ni is "doubly magic" (like 208
Pb) and therefore unusually stable.^[3]

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-58 is the most abundant isotope of nickel, making up 68.077% of the natural abundance. Possible sources include electron capture from copper-58 and EC + p from zinc-59.

Nickel-59 is a long-lived cosmogenic radionuclide with a half-life of 76,000 years. 59
Ni has found many applications in isotope geology. 59
Ni 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 60
Fe (half-life = 2.6 Ma). Because 60
Fe 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 60
Ni. Therefore, the abundance of 60
Ni present in extraterrestrial material may provide insight into the origin of the solar system and its early history/very early history. Unfortunately, nickel isotopes appear to have been heterogeneously distributed in the early solar system. Therefore, so far, no actual age information has been attained from 60
Ni excesses. Other sources may also include beta decay from Cobalt-60 and electron capture from Copper-60.

Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon of any isotope for any element, when including the electron shell in the calculation. More energy is released forming this isotope than any other, although fusion can form heavier isotopes. For instance, two 40
Ca atoms can fuse to form 80
Kr plus 4 electrons, liberating 77 keV per nucleon, but reactions leading to the iron/nickel region are more probable as they release more energy per baryon.

Nickel-64 is another isotope of nickel. Possible sources include beta decay from cobalt-64, and electron capture from copper-64

Nickel-78 is the element's heaviest isotope and is believed to have an important involvement in supernova nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron.^[4]

Standard atomic mass: 58.6934(2) u

Table

nuclide symbol	Z(p)	N(n)	isotopic mass (u)	half-life	decay mode(s)[5][n 1]	daughter isotope(s)[n 2]	nuclear spin	representative isotopic composition (mole fraction)	range of natural variation (mole fraction)
	excitation energy
48 Ni	28	20	48.01975(54)#	10# ms [>500 ns]			0+
49 Ni	28	21	49.00966(43)#	13(4) ms [12(+5-3) ms]			7/2-#
50 Ni	28	22	49.99593(28)#	9.1(18) ms	β+	50Co	0+
51 Ni	28	23	50.98772(28)#	30# ms [>200 ns]	β+	51Co	7/2-#
52 Ni	28	24	51.97568(9)#	38(5) ms	β+ (83%)	52Co	0+
					β+, p (17%)	51Fe
53 Ni	28	25	52.96847(17)#	45(15) ms	β+ (55%)	53Co	(7/2-)#
					β+, p (45%)	52Fe
54 Ni	28	26	53.95791(5)	104(7) ms	β+	54Co	0+
55 Ni	28	27	54.951330(12)	204.7(17) ms	β+	55Co	7/2-
56 Ni	28	28	55.942132(12)	6.075(10) d	β+	56 Co	0+
57 Ni	28	29	56.9397935(19)	35.60(6) h	β+	57 Co	3/2-
58 Ni	28	30	57.9353429(7)	Observationally Stable[n 3]			0+	0.680769(89)
59 Ni	28	31	58.9343467(7)	7.6(5)×104 a	β+	59 Co	3/2-
60 Ni	28	32	59.9307864(7)	Stable			0+	0.262231(77)
61 Ni	28	33	60.9310560(7)	Stable			3/2-	0.011399(6)
62 Ni[n 4]	28	34	61.9283451(6)	Stable			0+	0.036345(17)
63 Ni	28	35	62.9296694(6)	100.1(20) a	β-	63 Cu	1/2-
63m Ni	87.15(11) keV			1.67(3) µs			5/2-
64 Ni	28	36	63.9279660(7)	Stable			0+	0.009256(9)
65 Ni	28	37	64.9300843(7)	2.5172(3) h	β-	65 Cu	5/2-
65m Ni	63.37(5) keV			69(3) µs			1/2-
66 Ni	28	38	65.9291393(15)	54.6(3) h	β-	66 Cu	0+
67 Ni	28	39	66.931569(3)	21(1) s	β-	67 Cu	1/2-
67m Ni	1007(3) keV			13.3(2) µs	β-	67 Cu	9/2+
					IT	67Ni
68 Ni	28	40	67.931869(3)	29(2) s	β-	68 Cu	0+
68m1 Ni	1770.0(10) keV			276(65) ns			0+
68m2 Ni	2849.1(3) keV			860(50) µs			5-
69 Ni	28	41	68.935610(4)	11.5(3) s	β-	69 Cu	9/2+
69m1 Ni	321(2) keV			3.5(4) s	β-	69 Cu	(1/2-)
					IT	69Ni
69m2 Ni	2701(10) keV			439(3) ns			(17/2-)
70 Ni	28	42	69.93650(37)	6.0(3) s	β-	70 Cu	0+
70m Ni	2860(2) keV			232(1) ns			8+
71 Ni	28	43	70.94074(40)	2.56(3) s	β-	71 Cu	1/2-#
72 Ni	28	44	71.94209(47)	1.57(5) s	β- (>99.9%)	72 Cu	0+
					β-, n (<.1%)	71 Cu
73 Ni	28	45	72.94647(32)#	0.84(3) s	β- (>99.9%)	73 Cu	(9/2+)
					β-, n (<.1%)	72 Cu
74 Ni	28	46	73.94807(43)#	0.68(18) s	β- (>99.9%)	74 Cu	0+
					β-, n (<.1%)	73 Cu
75 Ni	28	47	74.95287(43)#	0.6(2) s	β- (98.4%)	75 Cu	(7/2+)#
					β-, n (1.6%)	74 Cu
76 Ni	28	48	75.95533(97)#	470(390) ms [0.24(+55-24) s]	β- (>99.9%)	76 Cu	0+
					β-, n (<.1%)	75 Cu
77 Ni	28	49	76.96055(54)#	300# ms [>300 ns]	β-	77 Cu	9/2+#
78 Ni	28	50	77.96318(118)#	120# ms [>300 ns]	β-	78 Cu	0+

1. ^ Abbreviations:
   IT: Isomeric transition
2. ^ Bold for stable isotopes
3. ^ Believed to decay by β⁺β⁺ to ⁵⁸Fe with a half-life over 700×10¹⁸ years
4. ^ Highest binding energy per nucleon of all nuclides

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. ^ "Isotopes of the Element Nickel". Science education. Jefferson Lab. http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/iso028.html. 
2. ^ "decay modes of Fe-58 vs Ni-58". http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=decay%20modes%20of%20Fe-58%20vs%20Ni-58&lk=2. 
3. ^ P. W. (23 October 1999). "Twice-magic metal makes its debut - isotope of nickel". Science News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_17_156/ai_57799535. Retrieved 2006-09-29. 
4. ^ Atom Smashers Shed Light on Supernovae, Big Bang - News from Sky & Telescope - SkyandTelescope.com
5. ^ Nucleonica: Universal Nuclide Chart

• Isotope masses from:
  • G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties". Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode 2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf. 
• Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
  • J. R. de Laeter, J. K. Böhlke, P. De Bièvre, H. Hidaka, H. S. Peiser, K. J. R. Rosman and P. D. P. Taylor (2003). "Atomic weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry 75 (6): 683–800. doi:10.1351/pac200375060683. http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/75/6/0683/pdf/. 
  • M. E. Wieser (2006). "Atomic weights of the elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry 78 (11): 2051–2066. doi:10.1351/pac200678112051. http://iupac.org/publications/pac/78/11/2051/pdf/. Lay summary. 
• Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. See editing notes on this article's talk page.
  • G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties". Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode 2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf. 
  • National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.1 database". Brookhaven National Laboratory. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nudat2/. Retrieved September 2005. 
  • N. E. Holden (2004). "Table of the Isotopes". In D. R. Lide. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (85th ed.). CRC Press. Section 11. ISBN 978-0849304859. 

See also

• Nickel-62

Isotopes of cobalt	Isotopes of nickel	Isotopes of copper
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