Eisspeedway

Isotopes of berkelium

Isotopes of berkelium (97Bk)
Main isotopes[1] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
245Bk synth 4.94 d ε 245Cm
α 241Am
246Bk synth 1.8 d α 242Am
β+ 246Cm
247Bk synth 1380 y α 243Am
248Bk synth >9 y[2] α 244Am
249Bk synth 330 d β 249Cf
α 245Am
SF

Berkelium (97Bk) is an artificial element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 243Bk in 1949. There are twenty known radioisotopes, from 233Bk and 233Bk to 253Bk (except 235Bk and 237Bk), and six nuclear isomers. The longest-lived isotope is 247Bk with a half-life of 1,380 years.

List of isotopes


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

Spin and
parity[1]
[n 5][n 6]
Excitation energy[n 6]
233Bk 97 136 233.05665(25)# 40(30) s α 229Am 3/2-#
β+? 233Cm
234Bk 97 137 234.05732(16)# 20(5) s α (>80%) 230Am 3-#
β+ (<20%) 234Cm
β+, SF?[4] (various)
236Bk 97 139 236.05748(39)# 26(10) s β+ (99.96%) 236Cm 4+#
β+, SF (0.04%) (various)
α? 232Am
238Bk 97 141 238.05820(28)# 2.40(8) min β+ (99.95%) 238Cm 1#
β+, SF (0.048%) (various)
α? 234Am
239Bk 97 142 239.05824(22)# 100# s β+ 239Cm (7/2+)
α? 235Am
SF? (various)
240Bk 97 143 240.05976(16)# 4.8(8) min β+? 240Cm 7−#
β+, SF (0.0020%) (various)
α? 236Am
241Bk 97 144 241.06010(18)# 4.6(4) min β+? 241Cm (7/2+)
α? 237Am
242Bk 97 145 242.06198(22)# 7.0(13) min β+ 242Cm 3+#
β+, SF (<3×10−5%) (various)
α? 238Am
242mBk 2000(200)# keV 600(100) ns SF (various)
IT? 242Bk
243Bk 97 146 243.0630059(49) 4.6(2) h β+ (99.85%) 243Cm 3/2−
α (.15%) 239Am
244Bk 97 147 244.065179(15) 5.02(3) h β+? 244Cm 4−
α (0.006%) 240Am
244mBk 1500(500)# keV 820(60) ns SF (various)
IT? 244Bk
245Bk 97 148 245.0663598(19) 4.95(3) d EC (99.88%) 245Cm 3/2−
α (.12%) 241Am
246Bk 97 149 246.068671(64) 1.80(2) d β+ 246Cm 2(−)
α? 242Am
247Bk 97 150 247.0703059(56) 1.38(25)×103 y α 243Am 3/2−
SF? (various)
248Bk 97 151 248.073142(54) >9 y α? 244Am 6+#
EC? 248Cm
248mBk[n 7] −20(50) keV 23.7(2) h β (70%) 248Cf 1(−)
EC (30%) 248Cm
α? 244Am
249Bk 97 152 249.0749831(13) 327.2(3) d β 249Cf 7/2+
α (.00145%) 245Am
SF (4.7×10−8%) (various)
249mBk 8.777(14) keV 300 μs IT 249Bk 3/2−
250Bk 97 153 250.0783172(31) 3.212(5) h β 250Cf 2−
250m1Bk 35.59(10) keV 29(1) μs IT 250Bk 4+
250m2Bk 85.6(16) keV 213(8) μs IT 250Bk 7+
251Bk 97 154 251.080761(12) 55.6(11) min β 251Cf (3/2−)
251mBk 35.5(13) keV 58(4) μs IT 251Bk (7/2+)
252Bk 97 155 252.08431(22)# 1.8(5) min β? 252Cf
α? 248Am
253Bk 97 156 253.08688(39)# 60# min β? 253Cf 3/2-#
This table header & footer:
  1. ^ mBk – 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. ^ Modes of decay:
    EC: Electron capture
    SF: Spontaneous fission
  5. ^ ( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
  6. ^ a b # – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
  7. ^ Order of ground state and isomer is uncertain.

Actinides vs fission products

Actinides[5] by decay chain Half-life
range (a)
Fission products of 235U by yield[6]
4n 4n + 1 4n + 2 4n + 3 4.5–7% 0.04–1.25% <0.001%
228Ra 4–6 a 155Euþ
248Bk[7] > 9 a
244Cmƒ 241Puƒ 250Cf 227Ac 10–29 a 90Sr 85Kr 113mCdþ
232Uƒ 238Puƒ 243Cmƒ 29–97 a 137Cs 151Smþ 121mSn
249Cfƒ 242mAmƒ 141–351 a

No fission products have a half-life
in the range of 100 a–210 ka ...

241Amƒ 251Cfƒ[8] 430–900 a
226Ra 247Bk 1.3–1.6 ka
240Pu 229Th 246Cmƒ 243Amƒ 4.7–7.4 ka
245Cmƒ 250Cm 8.3–8.5 ka
239Puƒ 24.1 ka
230Th 231Pa 32–76 ka
236Npƒ 233Uƒ 234U 150–250 ka 99Tc 126Sn
248Cm 242Pu 327–375 ka 79Se
1.33 Ma 135Cs
237Npƒ 1.61–6.5 Ma 93Zr 107Pd
236U 247Cmƒ 15–24 Ma 129I
244Pu 80 Ma

... nor beyond 15.7 Ma[9]

232Th 238U 235Uƒ№ 0.7–14.1 Ga

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  2. ^ Milsted, J.; Friedman, A. M.; Stevens, C. M. (1965). "The alpha half-life of berkelium-247; a new long-lived isomer of berkelium-248". Nuclear Physics. 71 (2): 299. doi:10.1016/0029-5582(65)90719-4.
  3. ^ Wang, Meng; Huang, W.J.; Kondev, F.G.; Audi, G.; Naimi, S. (2021). "The AME 2020 atomic mass evaluation (II). Tables, graphs and references*". Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030003. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddaf.
  4. ^ Kaji, D.; Morimoto, K.; Haba, H.; Ideguchi, E.; Koura, H.; Morita, K. (2016). "Decay Properties of New Isotopes 234Bk and 230Am, and Even–Even Nuclides 234Cm and 230Pu" (PDF). Journal of the Physical Society of Japan. 84 (15002): 015002. Bibcode:2016JPSJ...85a5002K. doi:10.7566/JPSJ.85.015002.
  5. ^ Plus radium (element 88). While actually a sub-actinide, it immediately precedes actinium (89) and follows a three-element gap of instability after polonium (84) where no nuclides have half-lives of at least four years (the longest-lived nuclide in the gap is radon-222 with a half life of less than four days). Radium's longest lived isotope, at 1,600 years, thus merits the element's inclusion here.
  6. ^ Specifically from thermal neutron fission of uranium-235, e.g. in a typical nuclear reactor.
  7. ^ Milsted, J.; Friedman, A. M.; Stevens, C. M. (1965). "The alpha half-life of berkelium-247; a new long-lived isomer of berkelium-248". Nuclear Physics. 71 (2): 299. Bibcode:1965NucPh..71..299M. doi:10.1016/0029-5582(65)90719-4.
    "The isotopic analyses disclosed a species of mass 248 in constant abundance in three samples analysed over a period of about 10 months. This was ascribed to an isomer of Bk248 with a half-life greater than 9 [years]. No growth of Cf248 was detected, and a lower limit for the β half-life can be set at about 104 [years]. No alpha activity attributable to the new isomer has been detected; the alpha half-life is probably greater than 300 [years]."
  8. ^ This is the heaviest nuclide with a half-life of at least four years before the "sea of instability".
  9. ^ Excluding those "classically stable" nuclides with half-lives significantly in excess of 232Th; e.g., while 113mCd has a half-life of only fourteen years, that of 113Cd is eight quadrillion years.