Isotopes of iridium

There are two natural isotopes of iridium (₇₇Ir), and 37 radioisotopes, the most stable radioisotope being ¹⁹²Ir with a half-life of 73.83 days, and many nuclear isomers, the most stable of which is ^192m2Ir with a half-life of 241 years. All other isomers have half-lives under a year, most under a day. All isotopes of iridium are either radioactive or observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but no actual decay has been observed.

Iridium-192 (symbol ¹⁹²Ir) is a radioactive isotope of iridium, with a half-life of 73.83 days. It decays by emitting beta (β) particles and gamma (γ) radiation. About 96% of ¹⁹²Ir decays occur via emission of β and γ radiation, leading to ¹⁹²Pt. Some of the β particles are captured by other ¹⁹²Ir nuclei, which are then converted to ¹⁹²Os. Electron capture is responsible for the remaining 4% of ¹⁹²Ir decays. Iridium-192 is normally produced by neutron activation of natural-abundance iridium metal.

Iridium-192 is a very strong gamma ray emitter, with a gamma dose-constant of approximately 1.54 μSv·h⁻¹·MBq⁻¹ at 30 cm, and a specific activity of 341 TBq·g⁻¹ (9.22 kCi·g⁻¹). There are seven principal energy packets produced during its disintegration process ranging from just over 0.2 to about 0.6 MeV.

The ^192m2Ir isomer is unusual, both for its long half-life for an isomer, and that said half-life greatly exceeds that of the ground state of the same isotope.

• Isotope masses from:
  • Audi, Georges; Bersillon, Olivier; Blachot, Jean; Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik (2003), "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties", Nuclear Physics A, 729: 3–128, Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A, doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001
• Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
  • de Laeter, John Robert; Böhlke, John Karl; De Bièvre, Paul; Hidaka, Hiroshi; Peiser, H. Steffen; Rosman, Kevin J. R.; Taylor, Philip D. P. (2003). "Atomic weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 75 (6): 683–800. doi:10.1351/pac200375060683.
  • Wieser, Michael E. (2006). "Atomic weights of the elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 78 (11): 2051–2066. doi:10.1351/pac200678112051.
• "News & Notices: Standard Atomic Weights Revised". International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. 19 October 2005.
• Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources.
  • Audi, Georges; Bersillon, Olivier; Blachot, Jean; Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik (2003), "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties", Nuclear Physics A, 729: 3–128, Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A, doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001
  • National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.x database". Brookhaven National Laboratory.
  • Holden, Norman E. (2004). "11. Table of the Isotopes". In Lide, David R. (ed.). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (85th ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-0485-9.

• NLM Hazardous Substances Databank – Iridium, Radioactive (referring to iridium-192)