Barium-144

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁴⁴Ba.

Contents

Barium-144 is a radioisotope of the chemical element barium, which, in addition to the element-specific 56 protons, has 88 neutrons in the atomic nucleus, resulting in the mass number 144. The very short-lived, only artificially producible, unstable and therefore radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; dealing with ¹⁴⁴Ba is for academic purposes only.

The neutron-rich nucleus of the isotope shows an octupole deformation.

See also: List of individual Barium isotopes (and general data sources).

General data

Name of the isotope:Barium-144; Ba-144Symbol:¹⁴⁴Ba or 14456BaMass number A:144 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:56 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:88Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):1.5714285714286 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):32Isotopic mass:143.922955(8) u (atomic weight of Barium-144)Nuclide mass:143.8922366 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:-71.76696 MeVMass defect:1.2777594 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:1190.22521454 MeV (per nucleus)
8.26545288 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 5.901(10) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 11.381(10) MeV (first proton)Half-life:11.5(2) sDecay constant λ:0.060273667874778 s^-1Specific activity α:2.538297329279 × 10⁺²⁰ Bq g^-1
6860263052.1065 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Charge radius:4.9236(112) femtometer fmYear of discovery:1967

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 11.5(2) s respectively 1.15 × 10¹ seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	¹⁴⁴La	100 %	3.083(15) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotopes are: ¹⁴⁴Cs, ¹⁴⁵Cs.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 88) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 144) with Barium-144. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 88	Isobar A = 144
49	¹³⁷In
50	¹³⁸Sn
51	¹³⁹Sb
52	¹⁴⁰Te
53	¹⁴¹I	¹⁴⁴I
54	¹⁴²Xe	¹⁴⁴Xe
55	¹⁴³Cs	¹⁴⁴Cs
56	¹⁴⁴Ba	¹⁴⁴Ba
57	¹⁴⁵La	¹⁴⁴La
58	¹⁴⁶Ce	¹⁴⁴Ce
59	¹⁴⁷Pr	¹⁴⁴Pr
60	¹⁴⁸Nd	¹⁴⁴Nd
61	¹⁴⁹Pm	¹⁴⁴Pm
62	¹⁵⁰Sm	¹⁴⁴Sm
63	¹⁵¹Eu	¹⁴⁴Eu
64	¹⁵²Gd	¹⁴⁴Gd
65	¹⁵³Tb	¹⁴⁴Tb
66	¹⁵⁴Dy	¹⁴⁴Dy
67	¹⁵⁵Ho	¹⁴⁴Ho
68	¹⁵⁶Er	¹⁴⁴Er
69	¹⁵⁷Tm	¹⁴⁴Tm
70	¹⁵⁸Yb
71	¹⁵⁹Lu
72	¹⁶⁰Hf
73	¹⁶¹Ta
74	¹⁶²W
75	¹⁶³Re
76	¹⁶⁴Os
77	¹⁶⁵Ir
78	¹⁶⁶Pt

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 144Ba

Literature and References

[1] - C. Chung, W. B. Walters et al.:
Decay of neutron-rich ¹⁴⁴Ba to levels of ¹⁴⁴La.
In: Physical Review C, 26, 1198, (1982), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevC.26.1198.

[2] - B. Bucher et al.:
Direct Evidence of Octupole Deformation in Neutron-Rich ¹⁴⁴Ba.
In: Physical Review Letters, 116, 112503, (2016), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.112503.