Beryllium-8

Beryllium-8 (8Be, Be-8) is a radionuclide with 4 neutrons and 4 protons. It is an unbound resonance and nominally an isotope of beryllium. It decays into two alpha particles with a half-life on the order of 8.19×10−17 seconds. This has important ramifications in stellar nucleosynthesis as it creates a bottleneck in the creation of heavier chemical elements. The properties of 8Be have also led to speculation on the fine tuning of the Universe, and theoretical investigations on cosmological evolution had 8Be been stable.

Beryllium-8, 8Be
General
Symbol8Be
Namesberyllium-8, 8Be, Be-8
Protons (Z)4
Neutrons (N)4
Nuclide data
Natural abundance0 (extinct)
Half-life (t1/2)(8.19±0.37)×10−17 s
Isotope mass8.00530510(4) Da
Spin0
Decay products4He
Decay modes
Decay modeDecay energy (MeV)
α(91.84±4)×10−3
Isotopes of beryllium
Complete table of nuclides
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