Samarium-147 | chemical isotope | Britannica (original) (raw)

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isotopes of samarium

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  In samarium
  1 percent), samarium-147 (15.0 percent), samarium-148 (11.2 percent), samarium-149 (13.8 percent), samarium-150 (7.4 percent), samarium-152 (26.8 percent), and samarium-154 (22.0 percent). Samarium-144, samarium-150, samarium-152, and samarium-154 are stable, but the other three naturally occurring isotopes are alpha emitters. A total of 34 (excluding nuclear isomers)
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samarium-neodymium dating

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  In dating: Samarium–neodymium method
  The radioactive decay of samarium of mass 147 (147Sm) to neodymium of mass 143 (143Nd) has been shown to be capable of providing useful isochron ages for certain geologic materials. Both parent and daughter belong to the rare-earth element group, which is itself the subject of numerous geologic investigations.…
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study of Earth’s evolution

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  In Earth: Accretion of the early Earth
  …it decays, or those of samarium-147 and its decay product neodymium-143, indicate that the oldest meteorites formed some 4.56 billion years ago. Other isotope studies demonstrate that Earth formed within, at most, a few tens of millions of years after the birth of the Sun.
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