Fluorine-24

Properties and data of the isotope ²⁴F.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Fluorine-24 is a radioisotope of the chemical element fluorine, which has 15 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 24. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ²⁴F is exclusively for academic purposes and experimental research.

The discovery of the unstable isotope was reported in 1970. According to this, when a metallic sample of Thorium-232 was irradiated with neon-22 (174 MeV) in a heavy ion cyclotron, 25 events were recorded, which could be traced back to the formation of fluorine-24 with the help of a magnetic spectrometer [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Fluorine-24; F-24Symbol:²⁴F or 249FMass number A:24 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:9 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:15Isotopic mass:24.008100(100) u (atomic weight of Fluorine-24)Nuclide mass:24.0031628 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:7.5451 MeVMass defect:0.192299028 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:179.12539079 MeV (per nucleus)
7.46355795 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 3.812(103) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 14.366(156) MeV (first proton)Half-life:384(16) msDecay constant λ:1.8050707827082 s^-1Specific activity α:4.529329381510 × 10⁺²² Bq g^-1
1224143076083.9 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)3+Mirror nucleus:Phosphorus-24Year of discovery:1970

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 384(16) ms respectively 3.84 × 10^-1 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	²⁴Ne	> 94.1 %	13.50(10) MeV	1.9816(4) MeV
β^-, n	²³Ne	< 5.9 %	4.627(98) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ²⁴O.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 15) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 24) with Fluorine-24. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 15	Isobar A = 24
5	²⁰B
6	²¹C
7	²²N	²⁴N
8	²³O	²⁴O
9	²⁴F	²⁴F
10	²⁵Ne	²⁴Ne
11	²⁶Na	²⁴Na
12	²⁷Mg	²⁴Mg
13	²⁸Al	²⁴Al
14	²⁹Si	²⁴Si
15	³⁰P	²⁴P
16	³¹S
17	³²Cl
18	³³Ar
19	³⁴K
20	³⁵Ca
21	³⁶Sc