Isotopes of erbium

Naturally occurring erbium (₆₈Er) is composed of six stable isotopes, with ¹⁶⁶Er being the most abundant (33.503% natural abundance). Thirty-nine radioisotopes have been characterized with between 74 and 112 neutrons, or 142 to 180 nucleons, with the most stable being ¹⁶⁹Er with a half-life of 9.4 days, ¹⁷²Er with a half-life of 49.3 hours, ¹⁶⁰Er with a half-life of 28.58 hours, ¹⁶⁵Er with a half-life of 10.36 hours, and ¹⁷¹Er with a half-life of 7.516 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 3.5 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 4 minutes. This element also has numerous meta states, with the most stable being ^167mEr (t_1/2 = 2.269 seconds).

The isotopes of erbium range in atomic weight from 141.9723 u (¹⁴²Er) to 179.9644 u (¹⁸⁰Er). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, ¹⁶⁶Er, is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before ¹⁶⁶Er are holmium isotopes, and the primary products after are thulium isotopes. All isotopes of erbium are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed.