Naturally occurring barium (56Ba) is a mix of six stable isotopes and one very long-lived radioactive primordial isotope, barium-130, identified as being unstable by geochemical means (from analysis of the presence of its daughter xenon-130 in rocks) in 2001, presumably decaying by double electron capture with a half-life of (0.5–2.7)×1021 years (about 1011 times the age of the universe). The two measurements are discordant; the above reflects the total range, the value in the table below is a crude average.

With the total range of mass numbers known 114 to 154, there are thirty-three known radioisotopes in addition to 130Ba. The longest-lived of these is 133Ba, which has a half-life of 10.538 years; all others have half-lives shorter than two weeks. The longest-lived isomers are 133mBa at 38.90 hours and 135m1Ba at 28.11 hours. The analogous 137m1Ba (half-life 2.552 minutes) occurs in the decay of the common fission product caesium-137.

Barium-114 is theorized to undergo cluster decay, emitting a nucleus of stable 12C to produce 102Sn. This decay has not been observed, with only an upper limit on the branching ratio of such decay (0.0034%).

List of isotopes

NuclideZNIsotopic mass (Da)Discovery yearHalf-lifeDecay modeDaughter isotopeSpin and parityNatural abundance (molefraction)
Excitation energyNormal proportionRange of variation
114Ba5658113.95072(11)460(125)msβ+ (79%)114Cs0+
α (0.9%)110Xe
β+, p (20%)113Xe
CD (<.0034%)102Sn, 12C
115Ba5659114.94748(22)#0.45(5)sβ+115Cs5/2+#
β+, p (>15%)114Xe
116Ba5660115.94162(22)#1.3(2)sβ+ (97%)116Cs0+
β+, p (3%)115Xe
117Ba5661116.93832(27)1.75(7)sβ+ (87%)117Cs(3/2+)
β+, p (13%)116Xe
β+, α (0.024%)113I
118Ba5662117.93323(22)#5.2(2)sβ+118Cs0+
119Ba5663118.93066(21)5.4(3)sβ+ (75%)119Cs(3/2+)
β+, p (25%)118Xe
119mBa66.0keV360(20)nsIT119Ba(5/2−)
120Ba5664119.92604(32)24(2)sβ+120Cs0+
121Ba5665120.92405(15)29.7(15)sβ+ (99.98%)121Cs5/2+
β+, p (0.02%)120Xe
122Ba5666121.91990(3)1.95(15)minβ+122Cs0+
123Ba5667122.918781(13)2.7(4)minβ+123Cs5/2+
123mBa120.95(8)keV830(60)nsIT123Ba1/2+#
124Ba5668123.915094(13)11.0(5)minβ+124Cs0+
125Ba5669124.914472(12)3.3(3)minβ+125Cs1/2+
125mBa120(20)#keV2.76(14)μsIT125Ba(7/2−)
126Ba5670125.911250(13)100(2)minβ+126Cs0+
127Ba5671126.911091(12)12.7(4)minβ+127Cs1/2+
127mBa80.32(11)keV1.93(7)sIT127Ba7/2−
128Ba5672127.9083524(17)2.43(5)dEC128Cs0+
129Ba5673128.908683(11)2.23(11)hβ+129Cs1/2+
129mBa8.42(6)keV2.135(10)hβ+129Cs7/2+
IT?129Ba
130Ba5674129.9063260(3)≈1×1021yεε130Xe0+0.0011(1)
130mBa2475.12(18)keV9.54(14)msIT130Ba8−
131Ba5675130.9069463(4)11.52(1)dβ+131Cs1/2+
131mBa187.995(9)keV14.26(9)minIT131Ba9/2−
132Ba5676131.9050612(11)Observationally Stable0+0.0010(1)
133Ba5677132.9060074(11)10.5379(16)yEC133Cs1/2+
133mBa288.252(9)keV38.90(6)hIT (99.99%)133Ba11/2−
EC (0.0104%)133Cs
134Ba5678133.90450825(27)Stable0+0.0242(15)
134mBa2957.2(5)keV2.61(13)μsIT134Ba10+
135Ba5679134.90568845(26)Stable3/2+0.0659(10)
135m1Ba268.218(20)keV28.11(2)hIT135Ba11/2−
135m2Ba2388.0(5)keV1.06(4)msIT135Ba(23/2+)
136Ba5680135.90457580(26)Stable0+0.0785(24)
136m1Ba2030.535(18)keV308.4(19)msIT136Ba7−
136m2Ba3357.19(25)keV(2004)91(2)nsIT136Ba10+
137Ba5681136.90582721(27)Stable3/2+0.1123(23)
137m1Ba661.659(3)keV2.552(1)minIT137Ba11/2−
137m2Ba2349.1(5)keV589(20)nsIT137Ba(19/2−)
138Ba5682137.90524706(27)Stable0+0.7170(29)
138mBa2090.536(21)keV850(100)nsIT138Ba6+
139Ba5683138.90884116(27)82.93(9)minβ−139La7/2−
140Ba5684139.910608(8)12.7534(21)dβ−140La0+
141Ba5685140.914404(6)18.27(7)minβ−141La3/2−
142Ba5686141.916433(6)10.6(2)minβ−142La0+
143Ba5687142.920625(7)14.5(3)sβ−143La5/2−
144Ba5688143.922955(8)11.73(8)sβ−144La0+
145Ba5689144.927518(9)4.31(16)sβ−145La5/2−
146Ba5690145.9303632(19)2.15(4)sβ−146La0+
147Ba5691146.935304(21)893(1)msβ− (99.93%)147La5/2−
β−, n (0.07%)146La
148Ba5692147.9382230(16)620(5)msβ− (99.6%)148La0+
β−, n (0.4%)147La
149Ba5693148.9432840(27)349(4)msβ− (96.1%)149La3/2−#
β−, n (3.9%)148La
150Ba5694149.946441(6)258(5)msβ− (99.0%)150La0+
β−, n (1.0%)149La
151Ba5695150.95176(43)#167(5)msβ−151La3/2−#
β−, n?150La
152Ba5696151.95533(43)#139(8)msβ−152La0+
β−, n?151La
153Ba5697152.96085(43)#113(39)msβ−153La5/2−#
β−, n?152La
β−, 2n?151La
154Ba5698153.96466(54)#53(48)msβ−154La0+
155Ba5699
This table header & footer: view

Barium-131

Barium-131 is a radioactive isotope of barium with a half-life of 11.52 days. It decays to caesium-131 by electron capture. It is produced by irradiation of caesium with protons with the reaction 133Cs(p,3n)131Ba. It is developed for SPECT imaging and can be combined with the alpha-emitter radium-223.

See also

Daughter products other than barium