Key facts
- Isotope.image
- Cobalt-601.svg
- Isotope.num_neutrons
- 33
- Isotope.num_protons
- 27
- Isotope.mass_number
- 60
- Isotope.abundance
- trace
- Isotope.symbol
- Co
- Isotope.mass
- 59.9338222
- Isotope.spin
- 5+
- Isotope.decay_mode1
- β- (beta decay)
- Isotope.decay_energy1
- 2.823
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- isotope of cobalt
- Subclass of
- cobalt
- Mass
- 59.933815667
- Image
- Radioactive source Co-60, activity 370 kBq.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- atomic number
- 27
- neutron number
- 33
- decays to
- nickel-60
- Commons category
- Cobalt-60
- half-life
- 1925.28
- spin quantum number
- 5.0
- parity quantum number
- 1
- mass excess
- -61650.309
- binding energy
- 524805.96
- MCN code
- 2844.40.20
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
14 sectionsContents
- Activity
- Decay
- Applications
- Production
- Safety
- Steel contamination
- Incidents involving medical radiation sources
- Other incidents
- Parity
- Suppliers
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|right|γ-ray spectrum of cobalt-60
Cobalt-60 (Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors through neutron activation of (of which natural cobalt consists entirely). Measurable quantities are also produced as a by-product of typical nuclear power plant operation and may be detected externally when leaks occur. In the latter case, the incidentally produced is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor's steel structures via the creation of its precursor. The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of . undergoes beta decay to an excited state of the stable isotope nickel-60 (), which then emits two gamma rays with energies of and . The overall equation of the nuclear reaction (activation and decay) is: + n → → + e + + 2γ
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “cobalt-60” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.