Beryllium-6

Properties and data of the isotope ⁶Be.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Beryllium-6 is a radioisotope of the chemical element Beryllium, which, in addition to the element-specific 4 protons, has 2 neutrons in the atomic nucleus, resulting in the mass number 6. The very short-lived, unstable and therefore radioactive nuclide, which can only be produced artificially, has no practical significance; The study of ⁶Be is for academic purposes only.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Beryllium-6; Be-6Symbol:⁶Be or 64BeMass number A:6 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:4 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:2Isotopic mass:6.019726(6) u (atomic weight of Beryllium-6)Nuclide mass:6.0175317 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:18.37465 MeVMass defect:0.028903959999999 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:26.92386532 MeV (per nucleus)
4.48731089 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 26.835(2003) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 0.593(50) MeV (first proton)Half-life:5.0(3) zsDecay constant λ:1.386294361119 × 10⁺²⁰ s^-1Specific activity α:1.39140998 × 10⁺⁴³ Bq g^-1
3.760567529729 × 10⁺³² Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Isobaric spin: 1Mirror nucleus:Helium-6Year of discovery:1958

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 5.0(3) zs respectively 5.0 × 10^-21 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
2p	⁴He		4.288 MeV
α ?

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ⁸C.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 2) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 6) with Beryllium-6. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 2	Isobar A = 6
1	³H	⁶H
2	⁴He	⁶He
3	⁵Li	⁶Li
4	⁶Be	⁶Be
5	⁷B	⁶B
6	⁸C
7	⁹N

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 6Be

Literature and References

[1] - R. J. Charity, J. M. Elson, S Komarov et al.:
Two-proton decay of the ⁶Be ground state and the double isobaric analog of ¹¹Li.
In: Journal of Physics: Conference Series, (2013), DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/420/1/012073.