Nitrogen-17

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁷N.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Nitrogen-17 is a radioisotope of the chemical element nitrogen, which has 10 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 7 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 17. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁷N is exclusively for academic purposes.

The discovery was reported in 1949: The radioactive isotope ¹⁷ was produced by irradiating an aqueous ammonium fluoride solution (NH₄F) with deutrons (hydrogen-2 nuclei) accelerated to 190 MeV [1]: ¹⁹F(d,α)¹⁷N.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Nitrogen-17; N-17Symbol:¹⁷N or 177NMass number A:17 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:7 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:10Isotopic mass:17.008449(16) u (atomic weight of Nitrogen-17)Nuclide mass:17.004609 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:7.87019 MeVMass defect:0.132975384 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:123.86577234 MeV (per nucleus)
7.2862219 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 5.885(15) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 13.113(15) MeV (first proton)Half-life:4.173(4) sDecay constant λ:0.16610284700694 s^-1Specific activity α:5.884086717131 × 10⁺²¹ Bq g^-1
159029370733.27 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)1/2-Isobaric spin: 3/2Magnetic dipole moment:μ(μ_N) = 0.3552(4)Nuclear g-factor:g_l = 0.7104Mirror nucleus:Neon-17Year of discovery:1949

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 4.173(4) s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy
β^-	¹⁷O	4.9(7) %	8.679(15) MeV
β^-, n	¹⁶O	95.1(7) %	4.537 MeV
β^-, α	¹³C	0.0025(4) %

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ¹⁷C.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 10) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 17) with Nitrogen-17. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

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