Fluorine-14

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁴F.

Contents

Fluorine-14 is a radioisotope of the chemical element fluorine, which has 5 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 9 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 14. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁴F is exclusively for academic purposes.

The first observation of the proton-rich nuclide during irradiation of methane gas with oxygen-13 (31MeV/u) was reported in 2010 [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Fluorine-14; F-14Symbol:¹⁴F or 149FMass number A:14 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:9 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:5Nucleon pairing (Z - N):odd - oddNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):0.55555555555556 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):-4Isotopic mass:14.034320(40) u (atomic weight of Fluorine-14)Nuclide mass:14.0293828 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:31.96887 MeVMass defect:0.079429868 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:73.98844546 MeV (per nucleus)
5.28488896 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 18.137(502) MeV (first neutron)Half-life:500(60) ysDecay constant λ:1.386294361119 × 10⁺²¹ s^-1Specific activity α:5.963185654285 × 10⁺⁴³ Bq g^-1
1.611671798455 × 10⁺³³ Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)2-Mirror nucleus:Boron-14Year of discovery:2010

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 500(60) ys respectively 5 × 10^-22 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
p	¹³O	?

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 5) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 14) with Fluorine-14. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 5	Isobar A = 14
1	⁶H
2	⁷He
3	⁸Li
4	⁹Be	¹⁴Be
5	¹⁰B	¹⁴B
6	¹¹C	¹⁴C
7	¹²N	¹⁴N
8	¹³O	¹⁴O
9	¹⁴F	¹⁴F
10	¹⁵Ne

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 14F

Literature and References

[1] - V.Z . Goldberg, B. T. Roeder, G. V. Rogachev et al.:
First observation of ¹⁴F.
In: Physics Letters B, (2010), DOI 10.1016/j.physletb.2010.07.054.