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Cobalt-60 (60 Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] : 39 It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors . Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotopic and mononuclidic cobalt isotope 59
Naturally occurring cobalt, Co, consists of a single stable isotope, 59 Co (thus, cobalt is a mononuclidic element). Twenty-eight radioisotopes have been characterized; the most stable are 60 Co with a half-life of 5.2714 years, 57 Co (271.811 days), 56 Co (77.236 days), and 58 Co (70.844 days). All other isotopes have half-lives of less than ...
Table of nuclides. A table or chart of nuclides is a two-dimensional graph of isotopes of the elements, in which one axis represents the number of neutrons (symbol N) and the other represents the number of protons (atomic number, symbol Z) in the atomic nucleus. Each point plotted on the graph thus represents a nuclide of a known or ...
Twenty-two radioisotopes have been characterized: the most stable, 60 Co, has a half-life of 5.2714 years; 57 Co has a half-life of 271.8 days; 56 Co has a half-life of 77.27 days; and 58 Co has a half-life of 70.86 days. All the other radioactive isotopes of cobalt have half-lives shorter than 18 hours, and in most cases shorter than 1 second.
Decay scheme of 60 Co. These relations can be quite complicated; a simple case is shown here: the decay scheme of the radioactive cobalt isotope cobalt-60. [1] 60 Co decays by emitting an electron with a half-life of 5.272 years into an excited state of 60 Ni, which then decays very fast to the ground state of 60 Ni, via two gamma decays.
The deposited cobalt-60 would have a half-life of 5.27 years, decaying into 60 Ni and emitting two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall nuclear equation of the reaction is: 59 27 Co + n → 60 27 Co → 60 28 Ni + e − + gamma rays. Nickel-60 is a stable isotope and undergoes no further decays after the ...
In addition to their uses in radiography, both cobalt-60 (60 Co) and iridium-192 (192 Ir) are used in the radiotherapy of cancer. Cobalt-60 tends to be used in teletherapy units as a higher photon energy alternative to caesium-137, while iridium-192 tends to be used in a different mode of therapy, internal radiotherapy or brachytherapy.
Iron-60 is an iron isotope with a half-life of 2.6 million years, [12] [13] but was thought until 2009 to have a half-life of 1.5 million years. It undergoes beta decay to cobalt-60, which then decays with a half-life of about 5 years to stable nickel-60. Traces of iron-60 have been found in lunar samples.