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Natural nitrogen (N) consists of two stable isotopes, nitrogen-14, which makes up the vast majority of naturally occurring nitrogen, and
nitrogen-15. Fourteen radioactive isotopes (radioisotopes) have also been found so far, with atomic masses ranging from 10 to 25, and
one nuclear isomer,
11m
N. All of these radioisotopes are short-lived, with the longest-lived one being nitrogen-13 with a half-life of 9.965
minutes. All of the others have half-lives below 7.15 seconds, with most of these being below five-eighths of a second. Most of the
isotopes with atomic mass numbers below 14 decay to isotopes of carbon, while most of the isotopes with masses above 15 decay to
isotopes of oxygen. The shortest-lived known isotope is nitrogen-10, with a half-life of about 2.3 microseconds.
The standard atomic weight of nitrogen is 14.0067.
Contents
1 Natural isotopes
1.1 Nitrogen-14
1.2 Nitrogen-15
2 Table
2.1 Notes
3 References
Natural isotopes
Nitrogen-14
Nitrogen-14 is one of two stable (non-radioactive) isotopes of the chemical element nitrogen, which makes about 99.636% of natural
nitrogen.
Nitrogen-14 is one of the very few stable nuclides with both an odd number of protons and of neutrons (seven each). Each of these
contributes a nuclear spin of plus or minus spin 1/2, giving the nucleus a total magnetic spin of one.
Like all elements heavier than lithium, the original source of nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 in the Universe is believed to be stellar
nucleosynthesis, where they are produced as part of the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle.
Nitrogen-14 is the source of naturally-occurring carbon-14. Some kinds of cosmic radiation cause a nuclear reaction with nitrogen-14 in
the upper atmosphere of the Earth, creating carbon-14 which decays back to nitrogen-14 with a half-life of 5,73040 years.
[1]
Nitrogen-15
Nitrogen-15 is a rare stable isotope of nitrogen. This isotope is often used in agricultural and medical research, for example in the
MeselsonStahl experiment to establish the nature of DNA replication.
[2]
An extension of this research resulted in development of
DNA-based stable-isotope probing, which allows examination of links between metabolic function and taxonomic identity of
microorganisms in the environment, without the need for culture isolation.
[3][4]
Nitrogen-15 is extensively used to trace mineral nitrogen
compounds (particularly fertilizers) in the environment and when combined with the use of other isotopic labels, is also a very important
tracer for describing the fate of nitrogenous organic pollutants.
[5][6]
Nitrogen-15 is frequently used in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), because unlike the more abundant nitrogen-14, that
has an integer nuclear spin and thus a quadrupole moment, N-15 has a fractional nuclear spin of one-half, which offers advantages for
NMR like narrower line width. Proteins can be isotopically labelled by cultivating them in a medium containing nitrogen-15 as the only
source of nitrogen. In addition, nitrogen-15 is used to label proteins in quantitative proteomics (e.g. SILAC).
Also, the ratio of
15
N/
14
N in an organism can give clues about its diet, as movement up the food chain tends to concentrate the
15
N
isotope, by 34 with each step of the food chain (see Isotopic signatures Nitrogen Isotopes).
Two sources of nitrogen-15 are the positron emission of oxygen-15
[7]
and the beta decay of carbon-15.
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Table
nuclide
symbol
Z(p) N(n)

isotopic mass (u)

half-life decay mode(s)
[8]
daughter
isotope(s)
[n 1]
nuclear
spin
representative
isotopic
composition
(mole fraction)
range of natural
variation
(mole fraction)
excitation energy
10
N 7 3 10.04165(43)
200(140) 10
24
s
[2.3(16) MeV]
p
9
C
(2)
11
N 7 4 11.02609(5)
590(210) 10
24
s
[1.58(+7552) MeV]
p
10
C
1/2+
11m
N 740(60) keV 6.90(80) 10
22
s 1/2
12
N 7 5 12.0186132(11) 11.000(16) ms

+
(96.5%)
12
C
1+

+
, (3.5%)
8
Be
[n 2]
13
N
[n 3]
7 6 13.00573861(29) 9.965(4) min
+ 13
C
1/2
14
N 7 7 14.0030740048(6) Stable 1+ 0.99636(20) 0.995790.99654
15
N 7 8 15.0001088982(7) Stable 1/2 0.00364(20) 0.003460.00421
16
N 7 9 16.0061017(28) 7.13(2) s

(99.99%)
16
O
2

, (.001%)
12
C
17
N 7 10 17.008450(16) 4.173(4) s

, n (95.0%)
16
O
1/2

(4.99%)
17
O

, (.0025%)
13
C
18
N 7 11 18.014079(20) 622(9) ms

(76.9%)
18
O
1

, (12.2%)
14
C

, n (10.9%)
17
O
19
N 7 12 19.017029(18) 271(8) ms

, n (54.6%)
18
O
(1/2)

(45.4%)
19
O
20
N 7 13 20.02337(6) 130(7) ms

, n (56.99%)
19
O

(43.00%)
20
O
21
N 7 14 21.02711(10) 87(6) ms

, n (80.0%)
20
O
1/2#

(20.0%)
21
O
22
N 7 15 22.03439(21) 13.9(14) ms

(65.0%)
22
O

, n (35.0%)
21
O
23
N 7 16 23.04122(32)#
14.5(24) ms
[14.1(+1215) ms]

23
O 1/2#
24
N 7 17 24.05104(43)# <52 ns n
23
N
25
N 7 18 25.06066(54)# <260 ns 1/2#
^ Bold for stable isotopes 1.
^ Immediately decays into two alpha particles for a net reaction of
12
N -> 3
4
He + e
+
2.
^ Used in positron emission tomography 3.
Notes
The precision of the isotope abundances and atomic mass is limited through variations. The given ranges should be applicable to
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any normal terrestrial material.
Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from systematic trends. Spins with weak
assignment arguments are enclosed in parentheses.
Uncertainties are given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits. Uncertainty values denote one standard
deviation, except isotopic composition and standard atomic mass from IUPAC which use expanded uncertainties.
Nuclide masses are given by IUPAP Commission on Symbols, Units, Nomenclature, Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants
(SUNAMCO).
Isotope abundances are given by IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights.
References
^ Godwin, H (1962). "Half-life of radiocarbon". Nature 195 (4845): 984. Bibcode:1962Natur.195..984G (http://adsabs.harvard.edu
/abs/1962Natur.195..984G). doi:10.1038/195984a0 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2F195984a0).
1.
^ Meselson M., Stahl F.W. (1958). "The replication of DNA in E. coli" (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC528642). Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. U.S.A. 44: 671682. Bibcode:1958PNAS...44..671M (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1958PNAS...44..671M). doi:10.1073/pnas.44.7.671
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.44.7.671). PMC 528642 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC528642). PMID 16590258
(//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16590258).
2.
^ Radajewski S., McDonald I.R., Murrell J.C. (2003). "Stable-isotope probing of nucleic acids: a window to the function of uncultured
microorganisms". Current Opinion in Biotechnology 14: 296302.
3.
^ Cupples, A.M., E.A. Shaffer, J.C. Chee-Sanford, and G.K. Sims. 2007. DNA buoyant density shifts during 15N DNA stable isotope
probing. Microbiological Res. 162:328-334.
4.
^ Marsh, K. L., G. K. Sims, and R. L. Mulvaney. 2005. Availability of urea to autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria as related to the fate of
14C- and 15N-labeled urea added to soil. Biol. Fert. Soil. 42:137-145.
5.
^ Bichat, F., G.K. Sims, and R.L. Mulvaney. 1999. Microbial utilization of heterocyclic nitrogen from atrazine. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.
63:100-110.
6.
^ CRC HANDBOOK of CHEMISTRY and PHYSICS, 64 th EDITION, 1983-1984; page B-234 7.
^ http://www.nucleonica.net/unc.aspx 8.
Isotope masses from:
G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay
properties" (http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf). Nuclear Physics A 729: 3128.
Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003NuPhA.729....3A).
doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.nuclphysa.2003.11.001).
Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
J. R. de Laeter, J. K. Bhlke, P. De Bivre, H. Hidaka, H. S. Peiser, K. J. R. Rosman and P. D. P. Taylor (2003). "Atomic
weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report)" (http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/75/6/0683/pdf/).
Pure and Applied Chemistry 75 (6): 683800. doi:10.1351/pac200375060683 (http://dx.doi.org
/10.1351%2Fpac200375060683).
M. E. Wieser (2006). "Atomic weights of the elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report)" (http://iupac.org/publications
/pac/78/11/2051/pdf/). Pure and Applied Chemistry 78 (11): 20512066. doi:10.1351/pac200678112051 (http://dx.doi.org
/10.1351%2Fpac200678112051). Lay summary (http://old.iupac.org/news/archives/2005/atomic-weights_revised05.html).
Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. See editing notes on this article's talk page.
G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay
properties" (http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf). Nuclear Physics A 729: 3128.
Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003NuPhA.729....3A).
doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.nuclphysa.2003.11.001).
National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.1 database" (http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nudat2/). Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Retrieved September 2005.
N. E. Holden (2004). "Table of the Isotopes". In D. R. Lide. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (85th ed.). CRC
Press. Section 11. ISBN 978-0-8493-0485-9.
Isotopes of carbon Isotopes of nitrogen Isotopes of oxygen
Table of nuclides
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