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] 58Ni 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

Contents

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

References

See also

Isotopes of cobalt Isotopes of nickel Isotopes of copper
Index to isotope pages · Table of nuclides