Isotopes of fermium

(Redirected from Fermium-259)

Fermium (100Fm) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be discovered (in fallout from nuclear testing) was 255Fm in 1952. 250Fm was independently synthesized shortly after the discovery of 255Fm. There are 20 known radioisotopes ranging in atomic mass from 241Fm to 260Fm (260Fm is unconfirmed), and 4 nuclear isomers, 247mFm, 250mFm, 251mFm, and 253mFm. The longest-lived isotope is 257Fm with a half-life of 100.5 days, and the longest-lived isomer is 247mFm with a half-life of 5.1 seconds.

Isotopes of fermium (100Fm)
Main isotopes[1]Decay
abun­dancehalf-life (t1/2)modepro­duct
252Fmsynth25.39 hSF
α248Cf
253Fmsynth3 dε253Es
α249Cf
255Fmsynth20.07 hSF
α251Cf
257Fmsynth100.5 dα253Cf
SF

List of isotopes

Nuclide
[n 1]
ZNIsotopic mass (Da)
[n 2][n 3]
Half-life
Decay
mode

[n 4]
Daughter
isotope

Spin and
parity
[n 5][n 6]
Excitation energy
241Fm100141241.07421(32)#730(60) μsSF(various)5/2+#
α (<14%)237Cf
242Fm100142242.07343(43)#<4 μs[2]SF(various)0+
243Fm[3]100143243.07447(23)#231(9) msα (91%)239Cf(7/2−)
SF (9%)(various)
β+ (<10%)243Es
244Fm[2]100144244.07404(22)#3.12(8) msSF(various)0+
α (<1%)240Cf
245Fm[4]100145245.07535(21)#5.5(7) sα (88.5%)241Cf(1/2+)
β+ (11.5%)245Es
SF (<0.3%)[3](various)
246Fm[5]100146246.075350(17)1.54(4) sα (93.2%)242Cf0+
SF (6.8%)(various)
β+ (<1.3%)246Es
247Fm[6]100147247.07695(12)#31(1) sα (64%)243Cf(7/2+)
β+ (36%)247Es
247mFm45(7) keV5.1(2) sα (88%)243Cf(1/2+)
IT (12%)247Fm
β+?247Es
248Fm100148248.077186(9)35.1(8) sα (93%)244Cf0+
β+ (7%)248Es
SF (.10%)(various)
249Fm100149249.078928(7)1.6(1) minβ+ (84.4%)249Es(7/2+)
α (15.6%)[7]245Cf
250Fm100150250.079521(9)30.4(15) minα (90%)246Cf0+
EC (10%)250Es
SF (6.9×10−3%)(various)
250mFm1199.2(10) keV1.92(5) sIT250Fm(8−)
251Fm100151251.081540(16)5.30(8) hβ+ (98.2%)251Es(9/2−)
α (1.8%)247Cf
251mFm200.09(11) keV21.1(16) μsIT251Fm(5/2+)
252Fm100152252.082467(6)25.39(4) hα (99.99%)[n 7]248Cf0+
SF (.0023%)(various)
253Fm100153253.085185(4)3.00(12) dEC (88%)253Es(1/2)+
α (12%)249Cf
253mFm[8]~351 keV0.56(6) μsIT253Fm(11/2-)
254Fm100154254.0868544(30)3.240(2) hα (99.94%)250Cf0+
SF (.0592%)(various)
255Fm100155255.089964(5)20.07(7) hα251Cf7/2+
SF (2.4×10−5%)(various)
256Fm100156256.091774(8)157.6(13) minSF (91.9%)(various)0+
α (8.1%)252Cf
257Fm[n 8]100157257.095106(7)100.5(2) dα (99.79%)253Cf(9/2+)
SF (.21%)(various)
258Fm100158258.09708(22)#370(14) μsSF(various)0+
259Fm100159259.1006(3)#1.5(3) sSF(various)3/2+#
260Fm[n 9][n 10]100160260.10281(55)#4 msSF(various)0+
This table header & footer:

Chronology of isotope discovery

IsotopeDiscoveredReaction
241Fm2008204Pb(40Ar,3n)
242Fm1975204Pb(40Ar,2n), 206Pb(40Ar,4n)
243Fm1981206Pb(40Ar,3n)
244Fm1967233U(16O,5n)
245Fm1967233U(16O,4n)
246Fm1966235U(16O,5n)
247Fm1967239Pu(12C,4n)
248Fm1958240Pu(12C,4n)
249Fm1960238U(16O,5n)
250Fm1954238U(16O,4n)
251Fm1957249Cf(α,2n)
252Fm1956249Cf(α,n)
253Fm1957252Cf(α,3n)
254Fm1954Neutron capture
255Fm1954Neutron capture
256Fm1955Neutron capture
257Fm1964Neutron capture
258Fm1971257Fm(d,p)
259Fm1980257Fm(t,p)
260Fm?1992?254Es+18O, 22Ne — transfer (EC of 260Md)

260Fm was not confirmed in 1997.

References