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Magnesium-40

Properties and data of the isotope 40Mg.


Contents

 

Magnesium-40 isotope

Magnesium-40 is a radioisotope of the chemical element magnesium, which has 28 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 12 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 40. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of 40Mg is exclusively for academic purposes.

The first observation of the extremely neutron-rich nuclide during irradiation of a natural tungsten template with calcium-48 ions (141 MeV/nucleon) was reported in 2007 [1].

See also: list of Magnesium isotopes.

 

General data

Name of the isotope:Magnesium-40; Mg-40Symbol:40Mg or 4012MgMass number A:40 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:12 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:28Isotopic mass:40.053190(540) u (atomic weight of Magnesium-40)Nuclide mass:40.0466071 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:49.54617 MeVMass defect:0.283328032 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:263.91836184 MeV (per nucleus)
6.59795905 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)
Separation energy:SN = 1.297(716) MeV (first neutron)
SP = 2.7716(896) MeV (first proton)
Half-life:> 170 nsDecay constant λ:4077336.356235 s-1Specific activity α:6.138573467647 × 10+28 Bq g-1
1.659073910174 × 10+18 Ci g-1
Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)
0+Year of discovery:2007

 

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T½ = > 170 ns respectively 1.70 × 10-7 seconds s.

Decay
mode
DaughterProbabilityDecay energyγ energy
(intensity)
β- ?40Al100 %20.730(580) MeV
β-, n39Al?19.989(583) MeV
β-, 2n38Al?

 

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 28) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 40) with Magnesium-40. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

 

ZIsotone N = 28Isobar A = 40
1139Na
1240Mg40Mg
1341Al40Al
1442Si40Si
1543P40P
1644S40S
1745Cl40Cl
1846Ar40Ar
1947K40K
2048Ca40Ca
2149Sc40Sc
2250Ti40Ti
2351V40V
2452Cr
2553Mn
2654Fe
2755Co
2856Ni
2957Cu
3058Zn
3159Ga
3260Ge

 

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 40Mg

 

Literature and References

[1] - T. Baumann, A. M. Amthor, D. Bazin et al.:
Discovery of 40Mg and 42Al suggests neutron drip-line slant towards heavier isotopes.
In: Nature, 449, (2007), DOI 10.1038/nature06213.

[2] - H. L. Crawford et al.:
First Spectroscopy of the Near Drip-line Nucleus 40Mg.
In: Physical Review Letters, 122, 052501, (2019), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.052501.

 


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Last update: 2024-11-04


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