Cerium-148

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁴⁸Ce.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Cerium-148 is a radioisotope of the chemical element cerium, which has 90 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 148. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁴⁸Ce is exclusively for academic purposes.

According to a 1964 report, cerium-148 was first identified in connection with the investigation of short-lived fission products from the irradiation of Uranyl nitrate in a research reactor. The isotope originated as a fission fragment of the uranium-235 target material and was detected via its β-decay chain to praseodymium-148. The experimental determination of the half-life was performed indirectly by periodically separating the cerium component and measuring the activity of the daughter nuclide [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Cerium-148; Ce-148Symbol:¹⁴⁸Ce or 14858CeMass number A:148 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:58 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:90Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):1.551724137931 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):32Isotopic mass:147.924424(12) u (atomic weight of Cerium-148)Nuclide mass:147.8926086 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:-70.39859 MeVMass defect:1.309270296 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:1219.5774251 MeV (per nucleus)
8.24038801 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 6.456(14) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 11.009(15) MeV (first proton)Half-life:56.8(3) sDecay constant λ:0.012203295432393 s^-1Specific activity α:4.99931728226 × 10⁺¹⁹ Bq g^-1
1351166833.0446 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Charge radius:4.9893(35) femtometer fmYear of discovery:1964

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 56.8(3) s respectively 5.68 × 10¹ seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	¹⁴⁸Pr	100 %	2.137(13) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ¹⁴⁸La.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 90) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 148) with Cerium-148. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 90	Isobar A = 148
50	¹⁴⁰Sn
51	¹⁴¹Sb
52	¹⁴²Te
53	¹⁴³I
54	¹⁴⁴Xe	¹⁴⁸Xe
55	¹⁴⁵Cs	¹⁴⁸Cs
56	¹⁴⁶Ba	¹⁴⁸Ba
57	¹⁴⁷La	¹⁴⁸La
58	¹⁴⁸Ce	¹⁴⁸Ce
59	¹⁴⁹Pr	¹⁴⁸Pr
60	¹⁵⁰Nd	¹⁴⁸Nd
61	¹⁵¹Pm	¹⁴⁸Pm
62	¹⁵²Sm	¹⁴⁸Sm
63	¹⁵³Eu	¹⁴⁸Eu
64	¹⁵⁴Gd	¹⁴⁸Gd
65	¹⁵⁵Tb	¹⁴⁸Tb
66	¹⁵⁶Dy	¹⁴⁸Dy
67	¹⁵⁷Ho	¹⁴⁸Ho
68	¹⁵⁸Er	¹⁴⁸Er
69	¹⁵⁹Tm	¹⁴⁸Tm
70	¹⁶⁰Yb	¹⁴⁸Yb
71	¹⁶¹Lu
72	¹⁶²Hf
73	¹⁶³Ta
74	¹⁶⁴W
75	¹⁶⁵Re
76	¹⁶⁶Os
77	¹⁶⁷Ir
78	¹⁶⁸Pt
80	¹⁷⁰Hg

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 148Ce

Literature and References

[1] - D.C. Hoffman, W.R. Daniels:
Some short-lived isotopes of cerium and praseodymium.
In: Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, 26, 11, (1964), DOI 10.1016/0022-1902(64)80001-4.