Ytterbium-173

Main isotopes of ytterbium

Iso­tope Decay abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct 166Yb syn 56.7 h ε 166Tm 168Yb 0.126% is stable 169Yb syn 32.026 d ε 169Tm 170Yb 3.023% is stable 171Yb 14.216% is stable 172Yb 21.754% is stable 173Yb 16.098% is stable 174Yb 31.896% is stable 175Yb syn 4.185 d β− 175Lu 176Yb 12.887% is stable 177Yb syn 1.911 h β− 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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