Cerium-124

Properties and data of the isotope ¹²⁴Ce.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Cerium-124 is a radioisotope of the chemical element cerium, which has 66 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 58 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 124. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹²⁴Ce is exclusively for academic purposes.

Cerium-124 was first described in 1968. The isotope was created by fusion-evaporation reactions in which a sulfur-36 beam with an energy of 190 MeV was fired at Ru targets (ruthenium-96 and ruthenium-98). The reaction residues were mass-separated and detected using X-rays and β-radiation: ^96,98Ru(³⁶S,xn)¹²⁴Ce [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Cerium-124; Ce-124Symbol:¹²⁴Ce or 12458CeMass number A:124 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:58 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:66Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):1.1379310344828 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):8Isotopic mass:123.93031(32) u (atomic weight of Cerium-124)Nuclide mass:123.8984946 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:-64.91582 MeVMass defect:1.095426312 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:1020.38303707 MeV (per nucleus)
8.22889546 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 12.701(422) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 3.554(357) MeV (first proton)Half-life:9.1(12) sDecay constant λ:0.076170019841752 s^-1Specific activity α:3.729321860091 × 10⁺²⁰ Bq g^-1
10079248270.516 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Year of discovery:1978

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 9.1(12) s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
EC/β⁺	¹²⁴La	100 %	5.343(303) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ¹²⁴Pr.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 66) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 124) with Cerium-124. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 66	Isobar A = 124
37	¹⁰³Rb
38	¹⁰⁴Sr
39	¹⁰⁵Y
40	¹⁰⁶Zr
41	¹⁰⁷Nb
42	¹⁰⁸Mo
43	¹⁰⁹Tc
44	¹¹⁰Ru	¹²⁴Ru
45	¹¹¹Rh	¹²⁴Rh
46	¹¹²Pd	¹²⁴Pd
47	¹¹³Ag	¹²⁴Ag
48	¹¹⁴Cd	¹²⁴Cd
49	¹¹⁵In	¹²⁴In
50	¹¹⁶Sn	¹²⁴Sn
51	¹¹⁷Sb	¹²⁴Sb
52	¹¹⁸Te	¹²⁴Te
53	¹¹⁹I	¹²⁴I
54	¹²⁰Xe	¹²⁴Xe
55	¹²¹Cs	¹²⁴Cs
56	¹²²Ba	¹²⁴Ba
57	¹²³La	¹²⁴La
58	¹²⁴Ce	¹²⁴Ce
59	¹²⁵Pr	¹²⁴Pr
60	¹²⁶Nd	¹²⁴Nd
61	¹²⁷Pm
62	¹²⁸Sm

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 124Ce

Literature and References

[1] - D. D. Bogdanov, A. V. Demyanov, V. A. Karnaukhov et al.:
New neutron-deficient isotopes of lanthanum and cerium.
In: Nuclear Physics A, 307, 3, (1978), DOI 10.1016/0375-9474(78)90457-8.