Isotopes of actinium

Actinium (89Ac) has no stable isotopes and no characteristic terrestrial isotopic composition, thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. There are 34 known isotopes, from 203Ac to 236Ac, and 7 isomers. Three isotopes are found in nature, 225Ac, 227Ac and 228Ac, as intermediate decay products of, respectively, 237Np, 235U, and 232Th. 228Ac and 225Ac are extremely rare, so almost all natural actinium is 227Ac.

Isotopes of actinium (89Ac)
Main isotopes[1]Decay
abun­dancehalf-life (t1/2)modepro­duct
225Actrace9.919 dα221Fr
CD211Bi
226Acsynth29.37 hβ226Th
ε226Ra
α222Fr
227Actrace21.772 yβ227Th
α223Fr

The most stable isotopes are 227Ac with a half-life of 21.772 years, 225Ac with a half-life of 10.0 days, and 226Ac with a half-life of 29.37 hours. All other isotopes have half-lives under 10 hours, and most under a minute. The shortest-lived known isotope is 217Ac with a half-life of 69 ns.

Purified 227Ac comes into equilibrium with its decay products (227Th and 223Fr) after 185 days.[2]

List of isotopes

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

[n 4]
Daughter
isotope

[n 5]
Spin and
parity
[n 6][n 7]
Isotopic
abundance
Excitation energy[n 7]
203Ac[3]8911456+269
−26
 μs
α199Fr(1/2+)
204Ac[4]891157.4+2.2
−1.4
 ms
α200Fr
205Ac[5]891167.7+2.7
−1.6
 ms
[4]
α201Fr9/2−?
206Ac89117206.01450(8)25(7) msα202Fr(3+)
206m1Ac80(50) keV15(6) msα202Fr
206m2Ac290(110)# keV41(16) msα202mFr(10−)
207Ac89118207.01195(6)31(8) ms
[27(+11−6) ms]
α203Fr9/2−#
208Ac89119208.01155(6)97(16) ms
[95(+24−16) ms]
α (99%)204Fr(3+)
β+ (1%)208Ra
208mAc506(26) keV28(7) ms
[25(+9−5) ms]
α (89%)204Fr(10−)
IT (10%)208Ac
β+ (1%)208Ra
209Ac89120209.00949(5)92(11) msα (99%)205Fr(9/2−)
β+ (1%)209Ra
210Ac89121210.00944(6)350(40) msα (96%)206Fr7+#
β+ (4%)210Ra
211Ac89122211.00773(8)213(25) msα (99.8%)207Fr9/2−#
β+ (.2%)211Ra
212Ac89123212.00781(7)920(50) msα (97%)208Fr6+#
β+ (3%)212Ra
213Ac89124213.00661(6)731(17) msα209Fr(9/2−)#
β+ (rare)213Ra
214Ac89125214.006902(24)8.2(2) sα (89%)210Fr(5+)#
β+ (11%)214Ra
215Ac89126215.006454(23)0.17(1) sα (99.91%)211Fr9/2−
β+ (.09%)215Ra
216Ac89127216.008720(29)0.440(16) msα212Fr(1−)
β+ (7×10−5%)216Ra
216mAc44(7) keV443(7) μsα212Fr(9−)
217Ac89128217.009347(14)69(4) nsα213Fr9/2−
β+ (6.9×10−9%)217Ra
217mAc2012(20) keV740(40) ns(29/2)+
218Ac89129218.01164(5)1.08(9) μsα214Fr(1−)#
218mAc584(50)# keV103(11) ns(11+)
219Ac89130219.01242(5)11.8(15) μsα215Fr9/2−
β+ (10−6%)219Ra
220Ac89131220.014763(16)26.36(19) msα216Fr(3−)
β+ (5×10−4%)220Ra
221Ac89132221.01559(5)52(2) msα217Fr9/2−#
222Ac89133222.017844(6)5.0(5) sα (99%)218Fr1−
β+ (1%)222Ra
222mAc200(150)# keV1.05(7) minα (88.6%)218Frhigh
IT (10%)222Ac
β+ (1.4%)222Ra
223Ac89134223.019137(8)2.10(5) minα (99%)219Fr(5/2−)
EC (1%)223Ra
CD (3.2×10−9%)209Bi
14C
224Ac89135224.021723(4)2.78(17) hβ+ (90.9%)224Ra0−
α (9.1%)220Fr
β (1.6%)224Th
225Ac[n 8]89136225.023230(5)10.0(1) dα221Fr(3/2−)Trace[n 9]
CD (6×10−10%)211Bi
14C
226Ac89137226.026098(4)29.37(12) hβ (83%)226Th(1)(−#)
EC (17%)226Ra
α (.006%)222Fr
227AcActinium[n 10]89138227.0277521(26)21.772(3) yβ (98.62%)227Th3/2−Trace[n 11]
α (1.38%)223Fr
228AcMesothorium 289139228.0310211(27)6.13(2) hβ228Th3+Trace[n 12]
229Ac89140229.03302(4)62.7(5) minβ229Th(3/2+)
230Ac89141230.03629(32)122(3) sβ230Th(1+)
231Ac89142231.03856(11)7.5(1) minβ231Th(1/2+)
232Ac89143232.04203(11)119(5) sβ232Th(1+)
233Ac89144233.04455(32)#145(10) sβ233Th(1/2+)
234Ac89145234.04842(43)#44(7) sβ234Th
235Ac89146235.05123(38)#60(4) sβ235Th1/2+#
236Ac[6]89147236.05530(54)#72+345
−33
 s
β236Th
This table header & footer:

Actinides vs fission products

Actinides[7] by decay chainHalf-life
range (a)
Fission products of 235U by yield[8]
4n4n + 14n + 24n + 34.5–7%0.04–1.25%<0.001%
228Ra4–6 a155Euþ
244Cmƒ241Puƒ250Cf227Ac10–29 a90Sr85Kr113mCdþ
232Uƒ238Puƒ243Cmƒ29–97 a137Cs151Smþ121mSn
248Bk[9]249Cfƒ242mAmƒ141–351 a

No fission products have a half-life
in the range of 100 a–210 ka ...

241Amƒ251Cfƒ[10]430–900 a
226Ra247Bk1.3–1.6 ka
240Pu229Th246Cmƒ243Amƒ4.7–7.4 ka
245Cmƒ250Cm8.3–8.5 ka
239Puƒ24.1 ka
230Th231Pa32–76 ka
236Npƒ233Uƒ234U150–250 ka99Tc126Sn
248Cm242Pu327–375 ka79Se
1.53 Ma93Zr
237Npƒ2.1–6.5 Ma135Cs107Pd
236U247Cmƒ15–24 Ma129I
244Pu80 Ma

... nor beyond 15.7 Ma[11]

232Th238U235Uƒ№0.7–14.1 Ga

See also

References