Isotopes of argon

Argon (Ar) has 24 known isotopes, from ³⁰Ar to ⁵³Ar and 1 isomer (^32mAr), three of which are stable, ³⁶Ar, ³⁸Ar, and ⁴⁰Ar. On Earth, ⁴⁰Ar makes up 99.6% of natural argon. The longest-lived radioactive isotopes are ³⁹Ar with a half-life of 269 years, ⁴²Ar with a half-life of 32.9 years, and ³⁷Ar with a half-life of 35.04 days. All other isotopes have half-lives less than 2 hours, and most less than a minute. The least stable is ³⁰Ar with a half-life shorter than 20 nanoseconds.

Naturally occurring ⁴⁰K with a half-life of 1.248×10⁹ (3) years, decays to stable ⁴⁰Ar (10.72%) by electron capture and by positron emission, and also transforms to stable ⁴⁰Ca (89.28%) via beta decay. These properties and ratios are used to determine the age of rocks through potassium-argon dating.^[1]

Despite trapping of ⁴⁰Ar in many rocks, it can be released by melting, grinding, and diffusion. Almost all of the argon in the Earth's atmosphere is the product of potassium-40 decay, since 99.6% of Earth atmospheric argon is ⁴⁰Ar, whereas in the Sun and presumably in primordial star-forming clouds, argon consists of < 15% ³⁸Ar and mostly (85%) ³⁶Ar. Similarly, the ratio of the three isotopes ³⁶Ar: ³⁸Ar: ⁴⁰Ar in the atmospheres of the outer planets is measured to be 8400: 1600: 1^[2]

In the Earth's atmosphere, radioactive ³⁹Ar (half-life 269 years) is made by cosmic ray activity, primarily from ⁴⁰Ar. In the subsurface environment, it is also produced through neutron capture by ³⁹K or alpha emission by calcium. The content of ³⁹Ar in natural argon is measured to be of (8.0±0.6)×10⁻¹⁶ g/g, or (1.01±0.08) Bq/kg of ^{36, 38, 40}Ar.^[3] The content of ⁴²Ar (half-life 33 years) in the Earth's atmosphere is lower than 6×10⁻²¹ parts per part of ^{36, 38, 40}Ar.^[4] Many endeavors require argon depleted in the cosmogenic isotopes, known as depleted argon.^[5] In December 2013, ³⁶Argon, in the form of argon hydride, was found in cosmic dust associated with the Crab nebula supernova.^[6][7] This was the first time a noble molecule was detected in outer space.^[6][7]

Radioactive ³⁷Ar is a synthetic radionuclide that is created from the neutron spallation of ⁴⁰Ca as a result of subsurface nuclear explosions. It has a half-life of 35 days.^[1]

Relative atomic mass: 39.948(1)

Table

1. ↑ Bold for stable isotopes
2. ↑ Isotopic composition refers to that in air. ³⁶Ar is actually far more abundant than ⁴⁰Ar, universally. ⁴⁰Ar is most abundant in air because most of it is radiogenic. Such ⁴⁰Ar atoms are a decay product from ⁴⁰K via electron capture, whereas ⁴⁰K goes under mostly β⁻ decay to ⁴⁰Ca. ⁴⁰Ar escapes the ⁴⁰K-containing rocks into the atmosphere, thus making the argon in the air mostly ⁴⁰Ar, not ³⁶Ar.
3. ↑ Believed to undergo double electron capture to ³⁶S (lightest theoretically unstable nuclide for which no evidence of radioactivity has been observed)
4. ↑ Used in argon-argon dating
5. ↑ Cosmogenic nuclide
6. ↑ Used in argon-argon dating and potassium-argon dating
7. ↑ Generated from ⁴⁰K in rocks. These ratios are terrestrial. Cosmic abundance is far less than ³⁶Ar.

Notes

• Nuclide masses are given by IUPAP Commission on Symbols, Units, Nomenclature, Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants (SUNAMCO).
• Isotope abundances are given by IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights.

See also

References

• Isotope masses from:
  • G. Audi; A. H. Wapstra; C. Thibault; J. Blachot; O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties" (PDF). Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. 
• 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; 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. 
  • 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. 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; O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties" (PDF). Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. 
  • National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.1 database". Brookhaven National Laboratory. 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 978-0-8493-0485-9. 

External links

• Argon isotopes data from The Berkeley Laboratory Isotopes Project's

Isotopes of the chemical elements
1 H																	2 He
3 Li	4 Be											5 B	6 C	7 N	8 O	9 F	10 Ne
11 Na	12 Mg											13 Al	14 Si	15 P	16 S	17 Cl	18 Ar
19 K	20 Ca	21 Sc	22 Ti	23 V	24 Cr	25 Mn	26 Fe	27 Co	28 Ni	29 Cu	30 Zn	31 Ga	32 Ge	33 As	34 Se	35 Br	36 Kr
37 Rb	38 Sr	39 Y	40 Zr	41 Nb	42 Mo	43 Tc	44 Ru	45 Rh	46 Pd	47 Ag	48 Cd	49 In	50 Sn	51 Sb	52 Te	53 I	54 Xe
55 Cs	56 Ba		72 Hf	73 Ta	74 W	75 Re	76 Os	77 Ir	78 Pt	79 Au	80 Hg	81 Tl	82 Pb	83 Bi	84 Po	85 At	86 Rn
87 Fr	88 Ra		104 Rf	105 Db	106 Sg	107 Bh	108 Hs	109 Mt	110 Ds	111 Rg	112 Cn	113 Uut	114 Fl	115 Uup	116 Lv	117 Uus	118 Uuo
		57 La	58 Ce	59 Pr	60 Nd	61 Pm	62 Sm	63 Eu	64 Gd	65 Tb	66 Dy	67 Ho	68 Er	69 Tm	70 Yb	71 Lu
		89 Ac	90 Th	91 Pa	92 U	93 Np	94 Pu	95 Am	96 Cm	97 Bk	98 Cf	99 Es	100 Fm	101 Md	102 No	103 Lr
Table of nuclides Categories: Isotopes Tables of nuclides Metastable isotopes Isotopes by element