Beryllium-8

Beryllium-8
General
Symbol8Be
Namesberyllium-8
Protons (Z)4
Neutrons (N)4
Nuclide data
Natural abundance0
Half-life (t1/2)(8.19±0.37)×10−17 s
Isotope mass8.00530510(4) Da
Spin0
Decay products4He
Decay modes
Decay modeDecay energy (MeV)
α0.09184(4)
Isotopes of beryllium
Complete table of nuclides

Beryllium-8 (8Be, Be-8) is a radionuclide with 4 neutrons and 4 protons. It is an unbound resonance of two alpha particles and nominally an isotope of beryllium. This has important ramifications in stellar nucleosynthesis as it creates a bottleneck in the creation of heavier chemical elements.