Fluorine-17

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁷F.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Fluorine-17 is a radioisotope of the chemical element fluorine, which has 8 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 17. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁷F is exclusively for academic purposes or experimental research.

Ludwik Wertenstein reported on the discovery of the radioactive nuclide in 1934 [1]: Fluorine-19 was created by irradiating gaseous nitrogen with alpha particles emitted by radon samples: ¹⁴N(α,n)¹⁷F.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Fluorine-17; F-17Symbol:¹⁷F or 179FMass number A:17 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:9 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:8Isotopic mass:17.00209524(27) u (atomic weight of Fluorine-17)Nuclide mass:16.9971581 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:1.9517 MeVMass defect:0.137649376 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:128.21956785 MeV (per nucleus)
7.54232752 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 16.795(5) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 0.60027(25) MeV (first proton)Half-life:64.370(27) sDecay constant λ:0.010768171206462 s^-1Specific activity α:3.814555518189 × 10⁺²⁰ Bq g^-1
10309609508.621 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)5/2+Isobaric spin: 1/2Magnetic dipole moment:μ(μ_N) = +4.7213(3)Nuclear g-factor:g_l = 1.88852Mirror nucleus:Oxygen-17Year of discovery:1934

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 64.370(27) s respectively 6.4370 × 10¹ seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
EC β⁺	¹⁷O	100 %	2.76047(25) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ¹⁷Ne.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 8) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 17) with Fluorine-17. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 8	Isobar A = 17
2	¹⁰He
3	¹¹Li
4	¹²Be
5	¹³B	¹⁷B
6	¹⁴C	¹⁷C
7	¹⁵N	¹⁷N
8	¹⁶O	¹⁷O
9	¹⁷F	¹⁷F
10	¹⁸Ne	¹⁷Ne
11	¹⁹Na	¹⁷Na
12	²⁰Mg
13	²¹Al
14	²²Si