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Nuclide reference

C-16 — Carbon-16

The half-life of C-16 is 747 ms. Main decay mode: β⁻ decay + neutron emission (99%).

Identification

Element
Carbon (C)
Atomic number Z
6
Mass number A
16
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
747 ms
Specific activity
3.492e+22 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
D-value (НП-067-24)
—

Decay modes

  • β⁻ decay + neutron emission — 99 %
  • β⁻ decay → N-16 — 1 %

Related calculators

DecayActivity ↔ massDose rate

Other isotopes of this element

C-11C-14
Reference data vs computed valuesHalf-life, gamma lines and D-value are reference data (ENDF/B-VIII.0, НП-067-24).Gamma constant Γ is H*(10) at 1 m computed from ICRP-107 spectra (NIST µ_en/ρ, ICRP-74 Table A.21) including short-lived progeny in equilibrium (e.g. Cs-137/Ba-137m, Ra-226 series); specific activity uses molar mass M ≈ mass number A.

Carbon-16 (C-16) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide C-16 in one place: half-life, decay modes, main gamma lines, alpha and beta particle energies, gamma constant, specific activity and the D-value for source categorization. Decay and emission data are from ENDF/B-VIII.0; the D-value follows NP-067-24; the gamma constant is the ambient dose equivalent H*(10) at 1 m, computed from ICRP-107 spectra.

How to use the data

Half-life and specific activity let you recalculate the activity of a C-16 source to the delivery or disposal date — use the decay calculator. Gamma lines with yields identify the nuclide from a spectrum and pick the line for gamma spectrometry; the gamma constant Γ gives the dose rate at a distance, while the D-value and A1/A2 set the source category and the package type for transport.