Isotopes of Carbon

Notable Isotopes

12C [6 neutrons]

Abundance: 98.9%

Stable with 6 neutrons

13C [7 neutrons]

Abundance: 1.1%

Stable with 7 neutrons

14C [8 neutrons]

Abundance: trace

Half life: 5730 years [ beta- ]

Decay Energy: 0.156 MeV

Decays to 14N.

A radioactive isotope, discovered February 27th 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. Its presence in organic materials is used in radiocarbon dating. It occurs naturally and has a relative abundance up to 1 part per trillion (0.0000000001%) of all naturally-occurring carbon on Earth.