Isotopes of nickel

Naturally occurring nickel (Ni) is composed of five stable isotopes; 58Ni, 60Ni, 61Ni, 62Ni and 64Ni with 58Ni being the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance). ⁵⁸Ni may decay by double beta-plus decay to ⁵⁸Fe. 26 radioisotopes have been characterised with the most stable being 59Ni with a half-life of 76,000 years, 63Ni with a half-life of 100.1 years, and 56Ni with a half-life of 6.077 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 60 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 30 seconds. This element also has 1 meta state.

Isotopes of nickel

The isotopes of nickel range in atomic weight from 48Ni to 78Ni.

Nickel-48, discovered in 1999, is the most neutron-poor nickel isotope known. With 28 protons and 20 neutrons 48Ni is "doubly magic" (like 208Pb) and therefore unusually stable.

Nickel-56 is produced in large quantities in type Ia supernovae and the shape of the light curve of these supernovae corresponds to the decay of nickel-56 to cobalt-56 and then to iron-56.

Nickel-58 is the most abundant isotope of nickel, making up 68.077% of the natural abundance. Possible sources include electron capture from copper-58 and EC + p from zinc-59.

Nickel-59 is a long-lived cosmogenic radionuclide with a half-life of 76,000 years. 59Ni has found many applications in isotope geology. 59Ni has been used to date the terrestrial age of meteorites and to determine abundances of extraterrestrial dust in ice and sediment.

Nickel-60 is the daughter product of the extinct radionuclide 60Fe (half-life = 2.6 My). Because 60Fe had such a long half-life, its persistence in materials in the solar system at high enough concentrations may have generated observable variations in the isotopic composition of 60Ni. Therefore, the abundance of 60Ni present in extraterrestrial material may provide insight into the origin of the solar system and its early history/very early history. Unfortunately, nickel isotopes appear to have been heterogeneously distributed in the early solar system. Therefore, so far, no actual age information has been attained from 60Ni excesses. Other sources may also include beta decay from cobalt-60 and electron capture from copper-60.

Nickel-61 is the only stable isotope of nickel with a nuclear spin (I = 3/2), which makes it useful for studies by EPR spectroscopy.

Nickel-62 has the highest binding energy per nucleon of any isotope for any element, when including the electron shell in the calculation. More energy is released forming this isotope than any other, although fusion can form heavier isotopes. For instance, two 40Ca atoms can fuse to form 80Kr plus 4 electrons, liberating 77 keV per nucleon, but reactions leading to the iron/nickel region are more probable as they release more energy per baryon.

Nickel-64 is another stable isotope of nickel. Possible sources include beta decay from cobalt-64, and electron capture from copper-64

Nickel-78 is the element's heaviest isotope and is believed to have an important involvement in supernova nucleosynthesis of elements heavier than iron.

Relative atomic mass: 58.6934(4)

Table

nuclide symbol	Z(p)	N(n)	isotopic mass (u)	half-life	decay mode(s)	daughter isotope(s)	nuclear spin	representative isotopic composition (mole fraction)	range of natural variation (mole fraction)
	excitation energy
48Ni	28	20	48.01975(54)#	10# ms [>500 ns]			0+
49Ni	28	21	49.00966(43)#	13(4) ms [12(+5-3) ms]			7/2−#
50Ni	28	22	49.99593(28)#	9.1(18) ms	β+	50Co	0+
51Ni	28	23	50.98772(28)#	30# ms [>200 ns]	β+	51Co	7/2−#
52Ni	28	24	51.97568(9)#	38(5) ms	β+ (83%)	52Co	0+
					β+, p (17%)	51Fe
53Ni	28	25	52.96847(17)#	45(15) ms	β+ (55%)	53Co	(7/2−)#
					β+, p (45%)	52Fe
54Ni	28	26	53.95791(5)	104(7) ms	β+	54Co	0+
55Ni	28	27	54.951330(12)	204.7(17) ms	β+	55Co	7/2−
56Ni	28	28	55.942132(12)	6.075(10) d	β+	56Co	0+
57Ni	28	29	56.9397935(19)	35.60(6) h	β+	57Co	3/2−
58Ni	28	30	57.9353429(7)	Observationally stable			0+	0.680769(89)
59Ni	28	31	58.9343467(7)	7.6(5)×104 y	EC (99%)	59Co	3/2−
					β+ (1.5x10−5%)
60Ni	28	32	59.9307864(7)	Stable			0+	0.262231(77)
61Ni	28	33	60.9310560(7)	Stable			3/2−	0.011399(6)
62Ni	28	34	61.9283451(6)	Stable			0+	0.036345(17)
63Ni	28	35	62.9296694(6)	100.1(20) y	β−	63Cu	1/2−
63mNi	87.15(11) keV			1.67(3) µs			5/2−
64Ni	28	36	63.9279660(7)	Stable			0+	0.009256(9)
65Ni	28	37	64.9300843(7)	2.5172(3) h	β−	65Cu	5/2−
65mNi	63.37(5) keV			69(3) µs			1/2−
66Ni	28	38	65.9291393(15)	54.6(3) h	β−	66Cu	0+
67Ni	28	39	66.931569(3)	21(1) s	β−	67Cu	1/2−
67mNi	1007(3) keV			13.3(2) µs	β−	67Cu	9/2+
					IT	67Ni
68Ni	28	40	67.931869(3)	29(2) s	β−	68Cu	0+
68m1Ni	1770.0(10) keV			276(65) ns			0+
68m2Ni	2849.1(3) keV			860(50) µs			5-
69Ni	28	41	68.935610(4)	11.5(3) s	β−	69Cu	9/2+
69m1Ni	321(2) keV			3.5(4) s	β−	69Cu	(1/2−)
					IT	69Ni
69m2Ni	2701(10) keV			439(3) ns			(17/2−)
70Ni	28	42	69.93650(37)	6.0(3) s	β−	70Cu	0+
70mNi	2860(2) keV			232(1) ns			8+
71Ni	28	43	70.94074(40)	2.56(3) s	β−	71Cu	1/2−#
72Ni	28	44	71.94209(47)	1.57(5) s	β− (>99.9%)	72Cu	0+
					β−, n (<.1%)	71Cu
73Ni	28	45	72.94647(32)#	0.84(3) s	β− (>99.9%)	73Cu	(9/2+)
					β−, n (<.1%)	72Cu
74Ni	28	46	73.94807(43)#	0.68(18) s	β− (>99.9%)	74Cu	0+
					β−, n (<.1%)	73Cu
75Ni	28	47	74.95287(43)#	0.6(2) s	β− (98.4%)	75Cu	(7/2+)#
					β−, n (1.6%)	74Cu
76Ni	28	48	75.95533(97)#	470(390) ms [0.24(+55-24) s]	β− (>99.9%)	76Cu	0+
					β−, n (<.1%)	75Cu
77Ni	28	49	76.96055(54)#	300# ms [>300 ns]	β−	77Cu	9/2+#
78Ni	28	50	77.96318(118)#	120# ms [>300 ns]	β−	78Cu	0+

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.
• Nuclide masses are given by IUPAP Commission on Symbols, Units, Nomenclature, Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants (SUNAMCO).
• Isotope abundances are given by IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights.

References

• Isotope masses from:
• Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
• Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. See editing notes on this article's talk page.

See also

• Nickel-62

Isotopes of cobalt	Isotopes of nickel	Isotopes of copper
Table of nuclides