Nitrogen-19

Properties and data of the isotope ¹⁹N.

Contents

Nitrogen-19 is a radioisotope of the chemical element nitrogen, which has 12 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 19. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ¹⁹N is exclusively for academic purposes.

The discovery of the radioactive isotope as a fragmentation product during irradiation of an Au target with 3 GeV protons was reported in 1968 [1].

Nitrogen-19 can be generated from oxygen-18 by a multinucleon transfer reaction [2]:

¹⁸O(¹⁸O,¹⁷F)¹⁹N.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Nitrogen-19; N-19Symbol:¹⁹N or 197NMass number A:19 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:7 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:12Isotopic mass:19.017022(18) u (atomic weight of Nitrogen-19)Nuclide mass:19.013182 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:15.85589 MeVMass defect:0.141732216 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:132.02270881 MeV (per nucleus)
6.94856362 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 5.328(25) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 16.352(34) MeV (first proton)Half-life:336(3) msDecay constant λ:2.0629380373808 s^-1Specific activity α:6.538580761278 × 10⁺²² Bq g^-1
1767183989534.6 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)1/2-Magnetic dipole moment:μ(μ_N) = 0.305(15)Nuclear g-factor:g_l = 0.61Mirror nucleus:Magnesium-19Year of discovery:1968

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 336(3) ms respectively 3.36 × 10^-1 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
β^-	¹⁹O	58.2(9) %	12.523(17) MeV	0.0964(3) MeV [47.4(13) %]
β^-, n	¹⁸O	41.8(9) %	8.568(16) MeV	1.9829(6) MeV [27.1(10) %]

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 12) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 19) with Nitrogen-19. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 12	Isobar A = 19
4	¹⁶Be
5	¹⁷B	¹⁹B
6	¹⁸C	¹⁹C
7	¹⁹N	¹⁹N
8	²⁰O	¹⁹O
9	²¹F	¹⁹F
10	²²Ne	¹⁹Ne
11	²³Na	¹⁹Na
12	²⁴Mg	¹⁹Mg
13	²⁵Al
14	²⁶Si
15	²⁷P
16	²⁸S
17	²⁹Cl
18	³⁰Ar

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 19N

Literature and References

[1] - T. D. Thomas et al.:
New isotopes, ¹⁹N and ²¹O, produced in high-energy nuclear reactions.
In: Physics Letters B, 27, 8, (1968), DOI 10.1016/0370-2693(68)90207-4.

[2] - W. N. Catford, L. K. Fifield, N. A. Orr, C. L. Woods:
Study of ¹⁹N and ²¹O by multinucleon transfer.
In: Nuclear Physics A, 503, 1, (1989), DOI 10.1016/0375-9474(89)90264-9.