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). 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.
Contents
Isotopes of nickel
The 5 stable and 26 unstable isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48
Ni
to 78
Ni
, and include:
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 much more stable than would be expected from its position in the chart of nuclides.
Nickel-56 is produced in large quantities in type Ia supernovae and the shape of the light curve of these supernovae display characteristic timescales corresponding 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 My). 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-61 is the only stable isotope of nickel with a nuclear spin (I = 3/2), which makes it useful for studies by EPR spectroscopy.
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-63 has two main uses: Detection of explosives traces, and in certain kinds of electronic devices, such as surge protectors. A surge protector is a device that protects sensitive electronic equipment like computers from sudden changes in the electric current flowing into them. It is also used in Electron capture detector in gas chromatography for the detection mainly of halogens.
Nickel-64 is another stable 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.
Relative atomic mass: 58.6934(4)