Isotopes of terbium

Isotopes of terbium (65Tb)
Main isotopes[1] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
157Tb synth 71 y ε 157Gd
158Tb synth 180 y ε 158Gd
β 158Dy
159Tb 100% stable
160Tb synth 72.3 d β 160Dy
161Tb synth 6.948 d β 161Dy
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Tb)

Naturally occurring terbium (65Tb) is composed of one stable isotope, 159Tb. Thirty-seven radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being 158Tb with a half-life of 180 years, 157Tb with a half-life of 71 years, and 160Tb with a half-life of 72.3 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than one week, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 24 seconds. This element also has 27 meta states, with the most stable being 156m2Tb (t1/2 = 24.4 hours), 154m2Tb (t1/2 = 22.7 hours) and 154m1Tb (t1/2 = 21.5 hours).

The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, 159Tb, is electron capture to gadolinium isotopes, and the primary mode after is beta decay to dysprosium isotopes.

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