Isotopes of nitrogen

Isotopesofnitrogen(₇N)
β−α<0.01%	12C
Standard atomic weightAr°(N)
	[14.00643,14.00728]; 14.007±0.001(abridged);
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Naturalnitrogen(₇N) consists of two stableisotopes:the vast majority (99.6%) of naturally occurring nitrogen isnitrogen-14,with the remainder beingnitrogen-15.Thirteenradioisotopesare also known, withatomic massesranging from 9 to 23, along with threenuclear isomers.All of these radioisotopes are short-lived, the longest-lived being nitrogen-13 with a half-life of9.965(4) min.All of the others have half-lives below 7.15 seconds, with most of these being below 620 milliseconds. Most of the isotopes withatomic mass numbersbelow 14 decay toisotopes of carbon,while most of the isotopes with masses above 15 decay toisotopes of oxygen.The shortest-lived known isotope is nitrogen-10, with a half-life of143(36)yoctoseconds,though the half-life of nitrogen-9 has not been measured exactly.

List of isotopes

Nuclide ^{[n 1]}	Z	N	Isotopic mass(Da)^[3] ^{[n 2]}^{[n 3]}	Half-life^[4] [resonance width]	Decay mode^[4] ^{[n 4]}	Daughter isotope ^{[n 5]}	Spinand parity^[4] ^{[n 6]}^{[n 7]}	Natural abundance(mole fraction)
Nuclide ^{[n 1]}	Excitation energy			Half-life^[4] [resonance width]	Decay mode^[4] ^{[n 4]}	Daughter isotope ^{[n 5]}	Spinand parity^[4] ^{[n 6]}^{[n 7]}	Normal proportion^[4]	Range of variation
⁹ N ^[5]	7	2		<1 as^[5]	5p^{[n 8]}	⁴ He
¹⁰ N	7	3	10.04165(43)	143(36) ys	p?^{[n 9]}	⁹ C ?	1−, 2−
¹¹ N	7	4	11.026158(5)	585(7) ys [780.0(9.3) keV]	p	¹⁰ C	1/2+
^11m N	740(60) keV			690(80) ys	p		1/2−
¹² N	7	5	12.0186132(11)	11.000(16) ms	β⁺(98.07(4)%)	¹² C	1+
¹² N	7	5	12.0186132(11)	11.000(16) ms	β⁺α (1.93(4)%)	⁸ Be ^{[n 10]}	1+
¹³ N ^{[n 11]}	7	6	13.00573861(29)	9.965(4) min	β⁺	¹³ C	1/2−
¹⁴ N ^{[n 12]}	7	7	14.003074004251(241)	Stable			1+	[0.99578,0.99663]^[6]
^14m N	2312.590(10) keV				IT	¹⁴ N	0+
¹⁵ N	7	8	15.000108898266(625)	Stable			1/2−	[0.00337,0.00422]^[6]
¹⁶ N	7	9	16.0061019(25)	7.13(2) s	β⁻(99.99846(5)%)	¹⁶ O	2−
¹⁶ N	7	9	16.0061019(25)	7.13(2) s	β⁻α (0.00154(5)%)	¹² C	2−
^16m N	120.42(12) keV			5.25(6) μs	IT (99.999611(25)%)	¹⁶ N	0−
^16m N	120.42(12) keV			5.25(6) μs	β⁻(0.000389(25)%)	¹⁶ O	0−
¹⁷N	7	10	17.008449(16)	4.173(4) s	β⁻n (95.1(7)%)	¹⁶ O	1/2−
					β⁻(4.9(7)%)	¹⁷ O
					β⁻α (0.0025(4)%)	¹³ C
¹⁸ N	7	11	18.014078(20)	619.2(1.9) ms	β⁻(80.8(1.6)%)	¹⁸ O	1−
					β⁻α (12.2(6)%)	¹⁴ C
					β⁻n (7.0(1.5)%)	¹⁷ O
					β⁻2n?^{[n 9]}	¹⁶ O ?
¹⁹ N	7	12	19.017022(18)	336(3) ms	β⁻(58.2(9)%)	¹⁹ O	1/2−
¹⁹ N	7	12	19.017022(18)	336(3) ms	β⁻n (41.8(9)%)	¹⁸ O	1/2−
²⁰ N	7	13	20.023370(80)	136(3) ms	β⁻(57.1(1.4)%)	²⁰ O	(2−)
					β⁻n (42.9(1.4)%)	¹⁹ O
					β⁻2n?^{[n 9]}	¹⁸ O ?
²¹ N	7	14	21.02709(14)	85(5) ms	β⁻n (87(3)%)	²⁰ O	(1/2−)
					β⁻(13(3)%)	²¹ O
					β⁻2n?^{[n 9]}	¹⁹ O ?
²² N	7	15	22.03410(22)	23(3) ms	β⁻(54.0(4.2)%)	²² O	0−#
					β⁻n (34(3)%)	²¹ O
					β⁻2n (12(3)%)	²⁰ O
²³ N ^{[n 13]}	7	16	23.03942(45)	13.9(1.4) ms	β⁻(>46.6(7.2)%)	²³ O	1/2−#
					β⁻n (42(6)%)	²² O
					β⁻2n (8(4)%)	²¹ O
					β⁻3n (<3.4%)	²⁰ O
This table header & footer: view

^^mN – Excitednuclear isomer.
^( ) – Uncertainty (1σ) is given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits.
^# – Atomic mass marked #: value and uncertainty derived not from purely experimental data, but at least partly from trends from the Mass Surface (TMS).
^ Modes of decay:

IT: Isomeric transition

n: Neutron emission

p: Proton emission
^Bold symbolas daughter – Daughter product is stable.
^( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
^# – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
^Decays by proton emission to⁸
C
,which immediately emits two protons to form⁶
Be
,which in turn emits two protons to form stable⁴
He
^[5]
^^a ^b ^c ^dDecay mode shown is energetically allowed, but has not been experimentally observed to occur in this nuclide.
^Immediately decays into two alpha particles for a net reaction of¹²N → 3 ⁴He+ e⁺.
^Used inpositron emission tomography
^One of the few stableodd-odd nuclei
^Heaviest particle-bound isotope of nitrogen, seeNuclear drip line

Nitrogen-13

Nitrogen-13 and oxygen-15 are produced in the atmosphere whengamma rays(for example fromlightning) knock neutrons out of nitrogen-14 and oxygen-16:

¹⁴N + γ →¹³N + n

¹⁶O + γ →¹⁵O + n

The nitrogen-13 produced as a result decays with a half-life of9.965(4) minto carbon-13, emitting apositron.The positron quickly annihilates with an electron, producing two gamma rays of about511 keV.After a lightning bolt, this gamma radiation dies down with a half-life of ten minutes, but these low-energy gamma rays go only about 90 metres through the air on average, so they may only be detected for a minute or so as the "cloud" of¹³N and¹⁵O floats by, carried by the wind.^[7]

Nitrogen-14

Nitrogen-14 is one of twostable(non-radioactive)isotopesof thechemical element nitrogen,which makes about 99.636% of natural nitrogen.

Nitrogen-14 is one of the very fewstable nuclides with both an odd number of protons and of neutrons(seven each) and is the only one to make up a majority of its element. Each proton or neutron contributes anuclear spinof plus or minusspin 1/2,giving the nucleus a total magneticspinof one.

The original source of nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 in theUniverseis believed to bestellar nucleosynthesis,where they are produced as part of theCNO cycle.

Nitrogen-14 is the source of naturally-occurring, radioactive,carbon-14.Some kinds ofcosmic radiationcause anuclear reactionwith nitrogen-14 in the upper atmosphere of the Earth, creating carbon-14, which decays back to nitrogen-14 with ahalf-lifeof5700(30) years.

Nitrogen-15

Nitrogen-15 is a rare stableisotopeofnitrogen.Two sources of nitrogen-15 are thepositron emissionofoxygen-15^[8]and thebeta decayofcarbon-15.Nitrogen-15 presents one of the lowest thermal neutron capture cross sections of all isotopes.^[9]

Nitrogen-15 is frequently used in NMR (Nitrogen-15 NMR spectroscopy). Unlike the more abundant nitrogen-14, which has an integernuclear spinand thus aquadrupole moment,¹⁵N has a fractionalnuclear spinof one-half, which offers advantages for NMR such as narrower line width.

Nitrogen-15 tracingis a technique used to study thenitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen-16

The radioisotope¹⁶N is the dominant radionuclide in the coolant ofpressurised water reactorsorboiling water reactorsduring normal operation. It is produced from¹⁶O (in water) via an(n,p) reaction,in which the¹⁶O atom captures a neutron and expels a proton. It has a short half-life of about 7.1 s,^[4]but its decay back to¹⁶O produces high-energygamma radiation(5 to 7 MeV).^[4]^[10]Because of this, access to the primary coolant piping in a pressurised water reactor must be restricted duringreactorpower operation.^[10]It is a sensitive and immediate indicator of leaks from the primary coolant system to the secondary steam cycle and is the primary means of detection for such leaks.^[10]

Isotopic signatures

References

^"Standard Atomic Weights: Nitrogen".CIAAW.2009.
^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.
^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.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^fKondev, 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.
^^a ^b ^cCho, Adrian (25 September 2023)."Fleeting form of nitrogen stretches nuclear theory to its limits".science.org.Retrieved27 September2023.
^^a ^b"Atomic Weight of Nitrogen | Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights".ciaaw.org.Retrieved2022-02-26.
^Teruaki Enoto; et al. (Nov 23, 2017). "Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge".Nature.551(7681): 481–484.arXiv:1711.08044.Bibcode:2017Natur.551..481E.doi:10.1038/nature24630.PMID 29168803.S2CID 4388159.
^CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics(64th ed.). 1983–1984. p. B-234.
^"Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) Retrieval & Plotting".National Nuclear Data Center.
^^a ^b ^cNeeb, Karl Heinz (1997).The Radiochemistry of Nuclear Power Plants with Light Water Reactors.Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 227.ISBN 978-3-11-013242-7.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-02-05.Retrieved2015-12-20.

[3] N – Excitednuclear isomer.

[5] ( ) – Uncertainty (1σ) is given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits.

[TMS-6] # – Atomic mass marked #: value and uncertainty derived not from purely experimental data, but at least partly from trends from the Mass Surface (TMS).

[8] Modes of decay:

IT: Isomeric transition

n: Neutron emission

p: Proton emission

[9] Bold symbolas daughter – Daughter product is stable.

[10] ( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.

[TNN-11] # – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).

[13] Decays by proton emission to⁸
C
,which immediately emits two protons to form⁶
Be
,which in turn emits two protons to form stable⁴
He
^[5]

[decay_mode_1-14] Decay mode shown is energetically allowed, but has not been experimentally observed to occur in this nuclide.

[15] Immediately decays into two alpha particles for a net reaction of¹²N → 3 ⁴He+ e⁺.

[16] Used inpositron emission tomography

[17] One of the few stableodd-odd nuclei

[19] Heaviest particle-bound isotope of nitrogen, seeNuclear drip line

[1] "Standard Atomic Weights: Nitrogen".CIAAW.2009.

[CIAAW2021-2] 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.

[AME2020_II-4] 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.

[NUBASE2020-7] 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.

[N9sci-12] Cho, Adrian (25 September 2023)."Fleeting form of nitrogen stretches nuclear theory to its limits".science.org.Retrieved27 September2023.

[Atomic_Weight_of_Nitrogen-18] "Atomic Weight of Nitrogen | Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights".ciaaw.org.Retrieved2022-02-26.

[20] Teruaki Enoto; et al. (Nov 23, 2017). "Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge".Nature.551(7681): 481–484.arXiv:1711.08044.Bibcode:2017Natur.551..481E.doi:10.1038/nature24630.PMID 29168803.S2CID 4388159.

[21] CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics(64th ed.). 1983–1984. p. B-234.

[22] "Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) Retrieval & Plotting".National Nuclear Data Center.

[Neeb-23] Neeb, Karl Heinz (1997).The Radiochemistry of Nuclear Power Plants with Light Water Reactors.Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 227.ISBN 978-3-11-013242-7.Archivedfrom the original on 2016-02-05.Retrieved2015-12-20.

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