Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Isotopes of cerium

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Naturally occurring cerium (Ce) is composed of 4 stable isotopes: 136Ce, 138Ce, 140Ce, and 142Ce, with 140Ce being the most abundant (88.48% natural abundance) and the only one theoretically stable; 136Ce, 138Ce, and 142Ce are predicted to undergo double beta decay but this process has never been observed. There are 35 radioisotopes that have been characterized, with the most stable being 144Ce, with a half-life of 284.893 days; 139Ce, with a half-life of 137.640 days and 141Ce, with a half-life of 32.501 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 4 days and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 10 minutes. This element also has 10 meta states.

The isotopes of cerium range in atomic weight from 119 u (119Ce) to 157 u (157Ce).

Relative atomic mass: 140.116(1).

Notes

  • Evaluated isotopic composition is for most but not all commercial samples.
  • Geologically exceptional samples are known in which the isotopic composition lies outside the reported range. The uncertainty in the atomic mass may exceed the stated value for such specimens.
  • 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

    Isotopes of cerium Wikipedia