Sulfur-30

Properties and data of the isotope ³⁰S.

Contents

General Data

Radioactive Decay

Parent Nuclides

Isotones und Isobares

Literature

Sulfur-30 is a radioisotope of the chemical element sulfur, which has 14 neutrons in its atomic nucleus in addition to the element-specific 16 protons; the sum of the number of these atomic nucleus building blocks results in a mass number of 30. The very short-lived, only artificially produced, unstable and thus radioactive nuclide has no practical significance; the study of ³⁰S is exclusively for academic purposes.

According to a report from 1961, the artificial isotope was first produced and identified by irradiating a silicon-28 template with helium-3 ions at an energy of 8 MeV [1]:

²⁸Si(³He,n)³⁰S.

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

General data

Name of the isotope:Sulfur-30; S-30Symbol:³⁰S or 3016SMass number A:30 (= number of nucleons)Atomic number Z:16 (= number of protons)Neutrons N:14Nucleon pairing (Z - N):even - evenNuclear ratio (N/Z ratio):0.875 (= neutron-proton ratio)Neutron excess (N-Z):-2Isotopic mass:29.98490677(22) u (atomic weight of Sulfur-30)Nuclide mass:29.9761296 u (calculated nuclear mass without electrons)Mass excess:-14.05925 MeVMass defect:0.261602566 u (per nucleus)Nuclear binding energy:243.68122061 MeV (per nucleus)
8.12270735 MeV (average binding energy per nucleon)Separation energy:S_N = 19.036(13) MeV (first neutron)
S_P = 4.3954(4) MeV (first proton)Half-life:1.1798(6) sDecay constant λ:0.58751244326152 s^-1Specific activity α:1.220028513891 × 10⁺²² Bq g^-1
329737436187 Ci g^-1Spin and parity:
(nuclear angular momentum)0+Mirror nucleus:Silicon-30Year of discovery:1961

Radioactive Decay

Half-life T_½ = 1.1798(6) s.

Decay mode	Daughter	Probability	Decay energy	γ energy (intensity)
EC/β⁺	³⁰P	100 %	6.14160(22) MeV

Parent Nuclides

Direct parent isotope is: ³¹Ar.

Isotones and Isobars

The following table shows the atomic nuclei that are isotonic (same neutron number N = 14) and isobaric (same nucleon number A = 30) with Sulfur-30. Naturally occurring isotopes are marked in green; light green = naturally occurring radionuclides.

Z	Isotone N = 14	Isobar A = 30
5	¹⁹B
6	²⁰C
7	²¹N
8	²²O
9	²³F	³⁰F
10	²⁴Ne	³⁰Ne
11	²⁵Na	³⁰Na
12	²⁶Mg	³⁰Mg
13	²⁷Al	³⁰Al
14	²⁸Si	³⁰Si
15	²⁹P	³⁰P
16	³⁰S	³⁰S
17	³¹Cl	³⁰Cl
18	³²Ar	³⁰Ar
19	³³K
20	³⁴Ca