Mercury-199

Isotopes of mercury

Isotopes of mercury

Nuclides with atomic number of 80 but with different mass numbers

There are seven stable isotopes of mercury (80Hg) with 202Hg being the most abundant (29.86%). The longest-lived radioisotopes are 194Hg with a half-life of 444 years, and 203Hg with a half-life of 46.612 days. Most of the remaining 40 radioisotopes have half-lives that are less than a day. 199Hg and 201Hg are the most often studied NMR-active nuclei, having spin quantum numbers of 1/2 and 3/2 respectively. All isotopes of mercury are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed. These isotopes are predicted to undergo either alpha decay or double beta decay.

Quick Facts Main isotopes, Decay ...

180Hg, producible from 180Tl, was found in 2010 to be capable of an unusual form of spontaneous fission.[4] The fission products are 80Kr and 100Ru.

List of isotopes


More information Nuclide, Z ...
  1. [n 1]
    mHg – Excited nuclear isomer.
  2. [n 2]
    ( ) – Uncertainty (1σ) is given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits.
  3. [n 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. [n 4]
    # – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
  5. [n 5]
    Modes of decay:
    EC:Electron capture
    IT:Isomeric transition
    SF:Spontaneous fission
  6. [n 6]
    Bold symbol as daughter – Daughter product is stable.
  7. [n 7]
    ( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
  8. [n 8]
    When produced from 180Tl can also undergo fission to 100Ru and 80Kr
  9. [n 9]
    Theoretically capable of α decay to 186Pt[1]
  10. [N 10]
    Theoretically capable of α decay to 188Pt[1]
  11. [N 11]
    Believed to undergo β+β+ decay to 196Pt with a half-life over 2.5×1018 years; also theorized to undergo α decay to 192Pt
  12. [N 12]
    Believed to undergo α decay to 194Pt
  13. [N 13]
    Believed to undergo α decay to 195Pt
  14. [N 14]
    Believed to undergo α decay to 196Pt
  15. [N 15]
    Believed to undergo α decay to 197Pt
  16. [N 16]
    Believed to undergo α decay to 198Pt
  17. [N 17]
    Believed to undergo β−β− decay to 204Pb
  18. [N 18]
    Intermediate decay product of 238U

References

  1. [1]
    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. [2]
    "Standard Atomic Weights: Mercury". CIAAW. 2011.
  3. [3]
    Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (2022-05-04). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.
  4. [4]
    Eugenie Samuel Reich (December 1, 2010). "Mercury serves up a nuclear surprise: a new type of fission". Scientific American.
  5. [5]
    Hilton, J.; et al. (2019). "α-spectroscopy studies of the new nuclides 165Pt and 170Hg". Physical Review C. 100 (1): 014305. Bibcode:2019PhRvC.100a4305H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.100.014305. S2CID 199118719.
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