Neon-16

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁶Ne.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Neon-16 is a radioisotope of the chemical element neon, which has 6 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 10 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 16. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁶Ne is exclusively for academic purposes.

The discovery of the proton-rich isotope was reported in 1979: Neon-16 was produced by the non-analogous pion double charge exchange reaction ¹⁶O(π⁺,π^-)¹⁶Ne (average pion energy 145 MeV) [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Neon-16; Ne-16Symbol:¹⁶Ne or 1610NeMass number A:16 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:10 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:6Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):0.6 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):-4Isotopic mass:16.025751(22) u (atomic weight of Neon-16)Nuclide mass:16.0202652 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:23.9869 MeVMass defect:0.104488816 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:97.33070517 MeV (per nucleus)
6.08316907 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 24.30(7) MeV (first neutron)Half-life:5.7 zsDecay constant λ:1.216047685192 × 10⁺²⁰ s^-1Specific activity α:4.577006532894 × 10⁺⁴² Bq g^-1
1.237028792674 × 10⁺³² Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Mirror nucleus:Carbon-16Year of discovery:1977

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 5.7 zs respectively 5.7 × 10^-21 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
2p	¹⁴O	100 %	1.411 MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ¹⁸Mg.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 6) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 16) with Neon-16. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 6	Isobar A = 16
1	⁷H
2	⁸He
3	⁹Li
4	¹⁰Be	¹⁶Be
5	¹¹B	¹⁶B
6	¹²C	¹⁶C
7	¹³N	¹⁶N
8	¹⁴O	¹⁶O
9	¹⁵F	¹⁶F
10	¹⁶Ne	¹⁶Ne
11	¹⁷Na
12	¹⁸Mg

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 16Ne

Literature and References

[1] - R.J. Holt, B. Zeidman, D. J. Malbrough et al.:
Pion non-analog double charge exchange: ¹⁶O(π⁺,π^-)¹⁶Ne.
In: Physics Letters B, 69, 1, (1977), DOI 10.1016/0370-2693(77)90131-9.

[2] - G. J. KeKelis, M. S. Zisman, D. K. Scott et al.:
Masses of the unbound nuclei ¹⁶Ne, ¹⁵F, and ¹²O.
In: Physical Review C, 17, 1929, (1978), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevC.17.1929.