Isotopes of ytterbium

Most stable isotopes of ytterbium

iso NA half-life DM DE (MeV) DP 166Yb syn 56.7 h ε 0.304 166Tm 168Yb 0.126% is stable with 98 neutrons 169Yb syn 32.026 d ε 0.909 169Tm 170Yb 3.023% is stable with 100 neutrons 171Yb 14.216% is stable with 101 neutrons 172Yb 21.754% is stable with 102 neutrons 173Yb 16.098% is stable with 103 neutrons 174Yb 31.896% is stable with 104 neutrons 175Yb syn 4.185 d β− 0.470 175Lu 176Yb 12.887% is stable with 106 neutrons 177Yb syn 1.911 h β− 1.399 177Lu
Standard atomic weight (Ar)	173.045(10)

Naturally occurring Ytterbium (₇₀Yb) is composed of 7 stable isotopes, ¹⁶⁸Yb, ¹⁷⁰Yb, ¹⁷¹Yb, ¹⁷²Yb, ¹⁷³Yb, ¹⁷⁴Yb, and ¹⁷⁶Yb, with ¹⁷⁴Yb being the most abundant (31.83% natural abundance). Twenty-seven radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being ¹⁶⁹Yb with a half-life of 32.026 days, ¹⁷⁵Yb with a half-life of 4.185 days, and ¹⁶⁶Yb with a half-life of 56.7 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 2 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 20 minutes. This element also has 12 meta states, with the most stable being ^169mYb (t_1/2 46 seconds).

The isotopes of ytterbium range in atomic weight from 147.967 u (¹⁴⁸Yb) to 180.9562 u (¹⁸¹Yb). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, ¹⁷⁴Yb is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before ¹⁷⁴Yb are isotopes of thulium, and the primary products after are isotopes of lutetium. Of interest to modern quantum optics, the different ytterbium isotopes follow either Bose–Einstein statistics or Fermi–Dirac statistics, leading to interesting behavior in optical lattices.

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