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Does iron have any radioactive isotopes?

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Yepp! As the last stage of the fusion process in stars is the formation of iron the heavier elements would not exist. Further fusion is endothermic and will not happen in a living star. By absorbing neutrons the heavier elements are created out of iron (high neutron flux necessary: e.g. exploding stars or close to neutron stars.). read more

Isotopes of iron The iron subsequently absorbs neutrons and thus exotic iron-isotopes are generated. During the decay, these neutrons are changed into protons and thus the heavier elements of the universe are generated (r-process). read more

Iron-60. Iron-60 is an iron isotope with a half-life of 2.6 million years, but was thought until 2009 to have a half-life of 1.5 million years. It undergoes beta decay to cobalt-60, which then decays with a half-life of about 5 years to stable nickel-60. Traces of iron-60 have been found in lunar samples. read more

The four stable isotopes of iron are iron-54, iron-56. iron-57 and iron-58. However, iron-54 is considered to be observationally stable which means that it is possibly radioactive (unstable), but has a half life that is older that the age of the planet. read more

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