Fluorine-22

Properties and data of the isotope ²²F.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Fluorine-22 is a radioisotope of the chemical element fluorine, which has 13 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 22. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ²²F is exclusively for academic purposes.

The radioactive isotope ²²F was first observed in 1965 during irradiation of a gaseous neon-22 sample with neutrons (14.8 MeV) produced by the nuclear reaction ³H(d,n)⁴He in a Van de Graaff accelerator:

²²Ne(n,p)²²F.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Fluorine-22; F-22Symbol:²²F or 229FMass number A:22 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:9 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:13Isotopic mass:22.002999(13) u (atomic weight of Fluorine-22)Nuclide mass:21.9980618 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:2.79355 MeVMass defect:0.180070196 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:167.73430715 MeV (per nucleus)
7.62428669 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 5.230(13) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 12.558(17) MeV (first proton)Half-life:4.23(4) sDecay constant λ:0.16386458169266 s^-1Specific activity α:4.485525422308 × 10⁺²¹ Bq g^-1
121230416819.14 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)(4+)Magnetic dipole moment:μ(μ_N) = 2.6944(4)Quadrupole moment Q:0.003(2) barn (100 fm²)Nuclear g-factor:g_l = 0.6736Mirror nucleus:Aluminium-22Year of discovery:1965

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 4.23(4) s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	²²Ne	> 89 %	10.818(12) MeV
β^-, n	²¹Ne	< 11 %	0.454(12) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotopes are: ²²O, ²³O.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 13) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 22) with Fluorine-22. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 13	Isobar A = 22
5	¹⁸B
6	¹⁹C	²²C
7	²⁰N	²²N
8	²¹O	²²O
9	²²F	²²F
10	²³Ne	²²Ne
11	²⁴Na	²²Na
12	²⁵Mg	²²Mg
13	²⁶Al	²²Al
14	²⁷Si	²²Si
15	²⁸P
16	²⁹S
17	³⁰Cl
18	³¹Ar
19	³²K

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 22F

Literature and References

[1] - F. J. Vaughn, R. A. Chalmers, L. F. Chase, Jr., S. R. Salisbury:
New Isotope of Fluorine: F²².
In: Physical Review Letters, 15, 555, (1965), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.15.555.