Lithium-13

Properties and data of the isotope ¹³Li.

Content

Lithium-13 is a radioisotope of the chemical element Lithium, which, in addition to the element-specific 3 protons, has 10 neutrons in the atomic nucleus, resulting in the mass number 13. The very short-lived, unstable and therefore radioactive nuclide, which can only be produced artificially, has no practical significance; The study of ¹³Li serves exclusively academic purposes. The ground state of the very neutron-rich, unbound nuclide was first described in the literature in 2013.

General data

Name of the isotope:Lithium-13; Li-13Symbol:¹³Li or 133LiMass number A:13 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:3 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:10Isotopic mass:13.06117(8) u (atomic weight of Lithium-13)Nuclide mass:13.0595243 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:56.97949 MeVMass defect:0.048954256 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:45.60059574 MeV (per nucleus)
3.50773813 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Half-life:3.3 zsDecay constant λ:2.100446001696 × 10⁺²⁰ s^-1Specific activity α:9.730139762237 × 10⁺⁴² Bq g^-1
2.629767503307 × 10⁺³² Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)3/2-Year of discovery:2012

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 3.3 zs respectively 3.3 × 10^-21 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
2n	¹¹Li	?

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 10) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 13) with Lithium-13. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

OZ	Isotone N = 10	Isobar A = 13
3	¹³Li	¹³Li
4	¹⁴Be	¹³Be
5	¹⁵B	¹³B
6	¹⁶C	¹³C
7	¹⁷N	¹³N
8	¹⁸O	¹³O
9	¹⁹F	¹³F
10	²⁰Ne
11	²¹Na
12	²²Mg
13	²³Al
14	²⁴Si
15	²⁵P
16	²⁶S

Literature and References

[1] - Z. Kohley, E. Lunderberg, P. A. DeYoung et al.:
First observation of the ¹³Li ground state.
In: Physical Review C, 87, 011304(R), (2013), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevC.87.011304.