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Isotopes of chromium



Naturally occurring Chromium (Cr) is composed of three stable isotopes; 52Cr, 53Cr, and 54Cr with 52Cr being the most abundant (83.789% natural abundance). Nineteen radioisotopes have been characterized with the most stable being 50Cr with a half-life of (more than) 1.8x1017 years, and 51Cr with a half-life of 27.7 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 24 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 1 minute. This element also has 2 meta states.

53Cr is the radiogenic decay product of 53Mn. Chromium isotopic contents are typically combined with manganese isotopic contents and have found application in isotope geology. Mn-Cr isotope ratios reinforce the evidence from 26Al and 107Pd for the early history of the solar system. Variations in 53Cr/52Cr and Mn/Cr ratios from several meteorites indicate an initial 53Mn/55Mn ratio that suggests Mn-Cr isotope systematics must result from in-situ decay of 53Mn in differentiated planetary bodies. Hence 53Cr provides additional evidence for nucleosynthetic processes immediately before coalescence of the solar system.

The isotopes of chromium range in atomic weight from 43 u (43Cr) to 67 u (67Cr). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 52Cr, is electron capture and the primary mode after is beta decay.
Standard atomic mass: 51.9961(6) u

Table

nuclide
symbol
Z(p) N(n)  
isotopic mass (u)
 
half-life nuclear
spin
representative
isotopic
composition
(mole fraction)
range of natural
variation
(mole fraction)
excitation energy
42Cr 24 18 42.00643(32)# 14(3) ms [13(+4-2) ms] 0+
43Cr 24 19 42.99771(24)# 21.6(7) ms (3/2+)
44Cr 24 20 43.98555(5)# 54(4) ms [53(+4-3) ms] 0+
45Cr 24 21 44.97964(54) 50(6) ms 7/2-#
45mCr 50(100)# keV 1# ms 3/2+#
46Cr 24 22 45.968359(21) 0.26(6) s 0+
47Cr 24 23 46.962900(15) 500(15) ms 3/2-
48Cr 24 24 47.954032(8) 21.56(3) h 0+
49Cr 24 25 48.9513357(26) 42.3(1) min 5/2-
50Cr 24 26 49.9460442(11) STABLE [>1.3E+18 a] 0+ 0.04345(13) 0.04294-0.04345
51Cr 24 27 50.9447674(11) 27.7025(24) d 7/2-
52Cr 24 28 51.9405075(8) STABLE 0+ 0.83789(18) 0.83762-0.83790
53Cr 24 29 52.9406494(8) STABLE 3/2- 0.09501(17) 0.09501-0.09553
54Cr 24 30 53.9388804(8) STABLE 0+ 0.02365(7) 0.02365-0.02391
55Cr 24 31 54.9408397(8) 3.497(3) min 3/2-
56Cr 24 32 55.9406531(20) 5.94(10) min 0+
57Cr 24 33 56.943613(2) 21.1(10) s (3/2-)
58Cr 24 34 57.94435(22) 7.0(3) s 0+
59Cr 24 35 58.94859(26) 460(50) ms 5/2-#
59mCr 503.0(17) keV 96(20) µs (9/2+)
60Cr 24 36 59.95008(23) 560(60) ms 0+
61Cr 24 37 60.95472(27) 261(15) ms 5/2-#
62Cr 24 38 61.95661(36) 199(9) ms 0+
63Cr 24 39 62.96186(32)# 129(2) ms (1/2-)#
64Cr 24 40 63.96441(43)# 43(1) ms 0+
65Cr 24 41 64.97016(54)# 27(3) ms (1/2-)#
66Cr 24 42 65.97338(64)# 10(6) ms 0+
67Cr 24 43 66.97955(75)# 10# ms [>300 ns] 1/2-#

Notes

  • 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

  • Isotope masses from Ame2003 Atomic Mass Evaluation by G. Audi, A.H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon in Nuclear Physics A729 (2003).
  • Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from Atomic weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure Appl. Chem. Vol. 75, No. 6, pp. 683-800, (2003) and Atomic Weights Revised (2005).
  • Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from these sources. Editing notes on this article's talk page.
    • Audi, Bersillon, Blachot, Wapstra. The Nubase2003 evaluation of nuclear and decay properties, Nuc. Phys. A 729, pp. 3-128 (2003).
    • National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory. Information extracted from the NuDat 2.1 database (retrieved Sept. 2005).
    • David R. Lide (ed.), Norman E. Holden in CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85th Edition, online version. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida (2005). Section 11, Table of the Isotopes.


Isotopes of vanadium Isotopes of chromium Isotopes of manganese
Index to isotope pages
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Isotopes_of_chromium". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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