Isotopes of copper

Isotopes of copper (29Cu)
Main isotopes[1] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
63Cu 69.2% stable
64Cu synth 12.70 h β+ 64Ni
β− 64Zn
65Cu 30.9% stable
67Cu synth 61.83 h β− 67Zn
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Cu)

Copper (29Cu) has two stable isotopes, 63Cu and 65Cu, along with 28 radioisotopes. The most stable radioisotope is 67Cu with a half-life of 61.83 hours. Most of the others have half-lives under a minute. Unstable copper isotopes with atomic masses below 63 tend to undergo β+ decay, while isotopes with atomic masses above 65 tend to undergo β− decay. 64Cu decays by both β+ and β−.[1]

There are at least 10 metastable isomers of copper, including two each for 70Cu and 75Cu. The most stable of these is 68mCu with a half-life of 3.75 minutes. The least stable is 75m2Cu with a half-life of 149 ns.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  2. ^ "Standard Atomic Weights: Copper". CIAAW. 1969.
  3. ^ Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (2022-05-04). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.