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Instead, the half-life is defined in terms of probability: "Half-life is the time required for exactly half of the entities to decay on average". In other words, the probability of a radioactive atom decaying within its half-life is 50%. [2] For example, the accompanying image is a simulation of many identical atoms undergoing radioactive decay.
Radioactive isotope table "lists ALL radioactive nuclei with a half-life greater than 1000 years", incorporated in the list above. The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear physics properties F.G. Kondev et al. 2021 Chinese Phys. C 45 030001. The PDF of this article lists the half-lives of all known radioactives nuclides.
The three long-lived nuclides are uranium-238 (half-life 4.5 billion years), uranium-235 (half-life 700 million years) and thorium-232 (half-life 14 billion years). The fourth chain has no such long-lasting bottleneck nuclide near the top, so almost all of the nuclides in that chain have long since decayed down to just before the end: bismuth-209.
The even-longer half-life of 2.2 × 10 24 years of tellurium-128 was measured by a unique method of detecting its radiogenic daughter xenon-128 and is the longest known experimentally measured half-life. [5] Another notable example is the only naturally occurring isotope of bismuth, bismuth-209, which has been predicted to be unstable with a ...
Entries starting with a ">" indicates that no decay has ever been observed, with null experiments establishing lower limits for the half-life. Such elements are considered stable unless a decay can be observed (establishing an actual estimate for the half-life). Note half-lives may be imprecise estimates and can be subject to significant revision.
The longest-lived of these isotopes, and the most relevantly studied, are 90 Sr with a half-life of 28.9 years, 85 Sr with a half-life of 64.853 days, and 89 Sr (89 Sr) with a half-life of 50.57 days. All other strontium isotopes have half-lives shorter than 50 days, most under 100 minutes.
Uranium-232 has a half-life of 68.9 years and is a side product in the thorium cycle. It has been cited as an obstacle to nuclear proliferation using 233 U, because the intense gamma radiation from 208 Tl (a daughter of 232 U, produced relatively quickly) makes 233 U contaminated with it more difficult to handle.
The main advantage of 60 Co is that it is a high-intensity gamma-ray emitter with a relatively long half-life, 5.27 years, compared to other gamma ray sources of similar intensity. The β-decay energy is low and easily shielded; however, the gamma-ray emission lines have energies around 1.3 MeV, and are highly penetrating.