Isotope: Mercury-212
General data
| Element name | Mercury |
|---|---|
| Chemical symbol | Hg |
| Atomic number Z | 80 |
| Isotope name (symbol) | Mercury-212 (Hg-212) |
| Neutron number N | 132 |
| Mass number A=Z+N | 212 |
Ground state
| Half-life | unknown |
|---|---|
| Spin / Parity | 0+ |
| Mass excess | 3000 ± 300 keV (S) |
Decay branches
β⁻ 100% β⁻nIsomers
no isomers in the NNDC data
No half-life data - simulation unavailable.
Produced by decay of
NNDC data contain no decay that leads to this isotope.
Many isotopes are also produced, often mainly, in nuclear reactions (e.g. Co-60 from Co-59 by neutron capture, C-14 from nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere) and in fission (e.g. Cs-137, I-131) - those routes are not listed here.
Radioactive decay series
- Mercury-212 unknown
- Thallium-212 31 s
- Lead-212 10.628 h · 98.2%
- Bismuth-212 60.55 min · 98.2%
- Polonium-212 295.0 ns · 62.9%
- Thallium-208 3.053 min · 35.3%
- Lead-208 stable · 98.2%
- Lead-211 36.1648 min · 1.8%
- Bismuth-211 2.14 min · 1.8%
- Thallium-207 4.77 min · 1.8%
- Lead-207 stable · 1.8%
Rare branches (below 0.01%)
Rare branches are transformations that occur in fewer than 0.01% of decays, e.g. double beta decay or cluster emission. The nuclides they produce are practically absent from a sample, so they are hidden by default to keep the main path clear. In this series: branches - 1, nuclides - 1.
- Polonium-211 0.516 s · 0.005%
Decay notation
| Notation | Name | On the chart | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| α | alpha decay | Alpha decay is the emission of a helium nucleus (2 protons + 2 neutrons): Z−2, A−4. | |
| β⁻, 2β⁻ | beta-minus decay | In beta-minus decay a neutron turns into a proton and the nucleus emits an electron: Z+1, A unchanged. 2β⁻ is double beta decay. | |
| EC, EC/β⁺ | electron capture / beta-plus decay | A proton turns into a neutron: the nucleus captures a shell electron (EC) or emits a positron (β⁺): Z−1, A unchanged. | |
| p, 2p, 3p | proton emission | Proton emission is the ejection of a proton from the nucleus: Z−1, A−1. 2p, 3p - two, three protons. | |
| n, 2n…4n | neutron emission | Neutron emission is the ejection of a neutron from the nucleus: A−1, Z unchanged. 2n…4n - several neutrons. | |
| ¹⁴C, ²⁴Ne… | cluster emission | Cluster emission is the ejection of a light nucleus, e.g. ¹⁴C, ²⁰O, ²⁴Ne, ²⁸Mg, ³⁴Si. It is a very rare transformation. | |
| IT | isomeric transition | An isomeric transition takes a nucleus from an excited state (an isomer, e.g. Pa-234m) to the ground state, usually emitting a γ photon: Z and A unchanged. | |
| β⁻n, ECp, ECα… | delayed emission | Delayed emission is the emission of a particle (n, p or α) right after β⁻ decay or electron capture. The arrow has the colour of the emitted particle and its label shows the transformation, e.g. “β⁻n 63%”. | |
| SF | spontaneous fission | no arrow | Spontaneous fission is the splitting of a nucleus into two fragments of random masses. There is no single daughter, so the chart shows no arrow - it is listed in the decay branches and in the tile tooltip. |
Data sources
- NNDC Wallet Cards 2023 - Data as of 15 October 2024 - licence: Public domain