Nitrogen-20

Properties and data of the isotope ²⁰N.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Nitrogen-20 is a radioisotope of the chemical element nitrogen, which has 13 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 20. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ²⁰N is exclusively for academic purposes.

According to a report from 1969, the radioactive isotope was first detected or discovered during the irradiation of metallic thorium-232 with oxygen-18 nuclei, which were accelerated to 122 MeV in a cyclotron [1].

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Nitrogen-20; N-20Symbol:²⁰N or 207NMass number A:20 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:7 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:13Isotopic mass:20.02337(8) u (atomic weight of Nitrogen-20)Nuclide mass:20.01953 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:21.76901 MeVMass defect:0.144049132 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:134.18090216 MeV (per nucleus)
6.70904511 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 2.116(81) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 17.936(126) MeV (first proton)Half-life:136(3) msDecay constant λ:5.0966704452937 s^-1Specific activity α:1.534643366911 × 10⁺²³ Bq g^-1
4147684775437.3 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)(2-)Mirror nucleus:Aluminium-20Year of discovery:1969

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 136(3) ms respectively 1.36 × 10^-1 seconds s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy
β^-	²⁰O	57.1(14) %	17.97(8) MeV
β^-, n	¹⁹O	42.9(14) %	10.362(79) MeV
β^-, 2n	¹⁸O	?

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ²⁰C.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 13) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 20) with Nitrogen-20. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 13	Isobar A = 20
5	¹⁸B	²⁰B
6	¹⁹C	²⁰C
7	²⁰N	²⁰N
8	²¹O	²⁰O
9	²²F	²⁰F
10	²³Ne	²⁰Ne
11	²⁴Na	²⁰Na
12	²⁵Mg	²⁰Mg
13	²⁶Al	²⁰Al
14	²⁷Si
15	²⁸P
16	²⁹S
17	³⁰Cl
18	³¹Ar
19	³²K

External data and identifiers

Adopted Levels, Gammas:NuDat 20N

Literature and References

[1] - A. G. Artukh, G. F. Gridnev, V. L. Mikheev, V.V. Volkov:
New isotopes ²²O, ²⁰N and ¹⁸C produced in transfer reactions with heavy ions.
In: Nuclear Physics A, 137, 2, (1969), DOI 10.1016/0375-9474(69)90114-6.

[2] - G. Singh et al.:
Radiative neutron capture rate of ¹⁹N(n, γ)²⁰N.
In: Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1643, 012065, (2020), DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/1643/1/012065.

[3] - Jinti Barman, Rajdeep Chatterjee:
Structure effects of ²⁰N in elemental abundance estimations during explosive nucleosynthesis.
In: EPJ Web of Conferences, 297, 02003, (2024), DOI 10.1051/epjconf/202429702003.