Beryllium-10

Beryllium-10 (¹⁰Be) is a radioactive isotope of beryllium. It is formed in the Earth's atmosphere mainly by cosmic ray spallation of nitrogen and oxygen.^[3][4][5] Beryllium-10 has a half-life of 1.39 × 10⁶ years,^[6][7] and decays by beta decay to stable boron-10 with a maximum energy of 556.2 keV. It decays through the reaction ¹⁰Be→¹⁰B + e⁻. Light elements in the atmosphere react with high energy galactic cosmic ray particles. The spallation of the reaction products is the source of ¹⁰Be (t, u particles like n or p):

Beryllium-10, ¹⁰Be

General
Symbol	^10Be
Names	beryllium-10, 10Be, Be-10
Protons (Z)	4
Neutrons (N)	6
Nuclide data
Natural abundance	trace
Half-life (t1/2)	1.39×10^6 years
Spin	0+
Binding energy	64976.3±0.08 keV
Decay modes
Decay mode	Decay energy (MeV)
β^−	0.5560^[1]^[2]
Isotopes of beryllium Complete table of nuclides

¹⁴N(t,5u)¹⁰Be; Example: ¹⁴N(n,p α)¹⁰Be

¹⁶O(t,7u)¹⁰Be

Plot showing variations in solar activity, including variation in ¹⁰Be concentration which varies inversely with solar activity. (Note that the beryllium scale is inverted, so increases on this scale indicate lower beryllium-10 levels).

Because beryllium tends to exist in solutions below about pH 5.5 (and rainwater above many industrialized areas can have a pH less than 5), it will dissolve and be transported to the Earth's surface via rainwater. As the precipitation quickly becomes more alkaline, beryllium drops out of solution. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be thereby accumulates at the soil surface, where its relatively long half-life (1.387 million years) permits a long residence time before decaying to ¹⁰B.

¹⁰Be and its daughter product have been used to examine soil erosion, soil formation from regolith, the development of lateritic soils and the age of ice cores.^[8] It is also formed in nuclear explosions by a reaction of fast neutrons with ¹³C in the carbon dioxide in air, and is one of the historical indicators of past activity at nuclear test sites. ¹⁰Be decay is a significant isotope used as a proxy data measure for cosmogenic nuclides to characterize solar and extra-solar attributes of the past from terrestrial samples.^[9]

See also

• Surface exposure dating

Lighter: Beryllium-9	Beryllium-10 is an isotope of beryllium	Heavier: Beryllium-11
Decay product of: 'lithium-11 (β^−, n)'	Decay chain of beryllium-10	Decays to: boron-10

References

1. "Decay Radiation: ¹⁰Be". National Nuclear Data Center. Brookhaven National Laboratory. Retrieved 2013-10-16.
2. Tilley, D.R.; Kelley, J.H.; Godwin, J.L.; Millener, D.J.; Purcell, J.E.; Sheu, C.G.; Weller, H.R. (2004). "Energy levels of light nuclei". Nuclear Physics A. 745 (3–4): 155–362. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2004.09.059.
3. G.A. Kovaltsov; I.G. Usoskin (2010). "A new 3D numerical model of cosmogenic nuclide ¹⁰Be production in the atmosphere". Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 291 (1–4): 182–199. Bibcode:2010E&PSL.291..182K. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.01.011.
4. J. Beer; K. McCracken; R. von Steiger (2012). Cosmogenic radionuclides: theory and applications in the terrestrial and space environments. Physics of Earth and Space Environments. Vol. 26. Physics of Earth and Space Environments, Springer, Berlin. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14651-0. ISBN 978-3-642-14650-3. S2CID 55739885.
5. S.V. Poluianov; G.A. Kovaltsov; A.L. Mishev; I.G. Usoskin (2016). "Production of cosmogenic isotopes ⁷Be, ¹⁰Be, ¹⁴C, ²²Na, and ³⁶Cl in the atmosphere: Altitudinal profiles of yield functions". J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 121 (13): 8125–8136. arXiv:1606.05899. Bibcode:2016JGRD..121.8125P. doi:10.1002/2016JD025034. S2CID 119301845.
6. G. Korschinek; A. Bergmaier; T. Faestermann; U. C. Gerstmann (2010). "A new value for the half-life of ¹⁰Be by Heavy-Ion Elastic Recoil Detection and liquid scintillation counting". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. 268 (2): 187–191. Bibcode:2010NIMPB.268..187K. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2009.09.020.
7. J. Chmeleff; F. von Blanckenburg; K. Kossert; D. Jakob (2010). "Determination of the ¹⁰Be half-life by multicollector ICP-MS and liquid scintillation counting". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. 268 (2): 192–199. Bibcode:2010NIMPB.268..192C. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2009.09.012.
8. Balco, Greg; Shuster, David L. (2009). (PDF). Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 286 (3–4): 570–575. Bibcode:2009E&PSL.286..570B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.025. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
9. Paleari, Chiara I.; F. Mekhaldi; F. Adolphi; M. Christl; C. Vockenhuber; P. Gautschi; J. Beer; N. Brehm; T. Erhardt; H.-A. Synal; L. Wacker; F. Wilhelms; R. Muscheler (2022). "Cosmogenic radionuclides reveal an extreme solar particle storm near a solar minimum 9125 years BP". Nat. Commun. 13 (214): 214. Bibcode:2022NatCo..13..214P. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27891-4. PMC 8752676. PMID 35017519.