Several dozen radioisotopes have been characterized. 65Zn, which has a half-life of 243.66 days, is the most long-lived radioisotope, followed by 72Zn with a half-life of 46.5 hours. Zinc has 10 nuclear isomers. 69mZn has the longest half-life, 13.76 h. The superscript m indicates a metastable isotope. The nucleus of a metastable isotope is in an excited state and will return to the ground state by emitting a photon in the form of a gamma ray. 61Zn has three excited states and 73Zn has two. The isotopes 65Zn, 71Zn, 77Zn and 78Zn each have only one excited state.
Several dozen radioisotopes have been characterized . 65Zn , which has a half - life of 243.66 days , is the most long - lived radioisotope , followed by 72Zn with a half - life of 46.5 hours . Zinc has 10 nuclear isomers . 69mZn has the longest half - life , 13.76 h. The superscript m indicates a metastable isotope . The nucleus of a metastable isotope is in an excited state and will return to the ground state by emitting a photon in the form of a gamma ray . 61Zn has three excited states and 73Zn has two . The isotopes 65Zn , 71Zn , 77Zn and 78Zn each have only one excited state .
What does the superscript "m" indicate?
What does the superscript " m " indicate ?
metastable isotope
metastable isotope