Isotopes of yttrium

Isotopes of yttrium (39Y)
Main isotopes Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
87Y synth 3.4 d ε 87Sr
γ
88Y synth 106.6 d ε 88Sr
γ
89Y 100% stable
90Y synth 2.7 d β 90Zr
γ
91Y synth 58.5 d β 91Zr
γ
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Y)

Natural yttrium (39Y) is composed of a single isotope yttrium-89. The most stable radioisotopes are 88Y, which has a half-life of 106.6 days, and 91Y, with a half-life of 58.51 days. All the other isotopes have half-lives of less than a day, except 87Y, which has a half-life of 79.8 hours, and 90Y, with 64 hours. The dominant decay mode below the stable 89Y is electron capture and the dominant mode after it is beta emission. Thirty-five unstable isotopes have been characterized.

90Y exists in equilibrium with its parent isotope strontium-90, which is a product of nuclear fission.

  1. ^ "Standard Atomic Weights: Yttrium". CIAAW. 2021.
  2. ^ 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.