Iron-60

Properties and data of the isotope ⁶⁰Fe.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Iron-60; Fe-60Symbol:⁶⁰Fe or 6026FeMass number A:60 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:26 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:34Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):1.3076923076923 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):8Isotopic mass:59.934070(4) u (atomic weight of Iron-60)Nuclide mass:59.9198073 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:-61.4134 MeVMass defect:0.563987976 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:525.35141572 MeV (per nucleus)
8.75585693 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 8.820(3) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 13.177(4) MeV (first proton)Half-life:2.62(4) × 10⁶ aDecay constant λ:8.389142331942 × 10^-15 s^-1Specific activity α:85628130.19833 Bq g^-1
0.0023142737891441 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Year of discovery:1957

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 2.62(4) × 10⁶ a respectively 8.262432 × 10¹³ seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	⁶⁰Co	100 %	0.237(3) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ⁶⁰Mn.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 34) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 60) with Iron-60. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 34	Isobar A = 60
17	⁵¹Cl
18	⁵²Ar
19	⁵³K
20	⁵⁴Ca
21	⁵⁵Sc	⁶⁰Sc
22	⁵⁶Ti	⁶⁰Ti
23	⁵⁷V	⁶⁰V
24	⁵⁸Cr	⁶⁰Cr
25	⁵⁹Mn	⁶⁰Mn
26	⁶⁰Fe	⁶⁰Fe
27	⁶¹Co	⁶⁰Co
28	⁶²Ni	⁶⁰Ni
29	⁶³Cu	⁶⁰Cu
30	⁶⁴Zn	⁶⁰Zn
31	⁶⁵Ga	⁶⁰Ga
32	⁶⁶Ge	⁶⁰Ge
33	⁶⁷As
34	⁶⁸Se
35	⁶⁹Br
36	⁷⁰Kr
37	⁷¹Rb

External data and identifiers

CAS:32020-21-6InChI Key:XEEYBQQBJWHFJM-RNFDNDRNSA-NSMILES:[60Fe]PubChem:ID 169394Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 60Fe

Literature and References

[1] - NN:
Eisen-60 Isotop: Halbwertszeit von Eisen-60 überrascht Forscher.
In: Internetchemie News, (2009).

[2] - A. Wallner, M. Bichler, K. Buczak, R. Dressler, L. K. Fifield, D. Schumann, J. H. Sterba, S. G. Tims, G. Wallner, W. Kutschera:
Settling the Half-Life of ⁶⁰Fe: Fundamental for a Versatile Astrophysical Chronometer.
In: Physical Review Letters, (2015), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.041101.

[3] - A. Wallner, J. Feige, N. Kinoshita et al.:
Recent near-Earth supernovae probed by global deposition of interstellar radioactive ⁶⁰Fe.
In: Nature, (2016), DOI 10.1038/nature17196.

[4] - Dominik Koll, Gunther Korschinek, Thomas Faestermann, J. M. Gómez-Guzmán, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Silke Merchel, Jan M. Welch:
Interstellar ⁶⁰Fe in Antarctica.
In: Physical Review Letters, (2019), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.072701.

[5] - Dorothea Schumannm, Niko Kivel, Rugard Dressler:
Production and characterization of ^60Fe standards for accelerator mass spectrometry.
In: Plos One, (2019), DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0219039.