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Naturally occurring tungsten (₇₄W) consists of five isotopes. Four are considered stable (W, W, W, and W) and one is slightly radioactive, W, with an extremely long half-life of 1.8 ± 0.2 exayears (10 years). On average, two alpha decays of W occur per gram of natural tungsten per year, so for most practical purposes, W can be considered stable. Theoretically, all five can decay into isotopes of element 72 (hafnium) by alpha emission, but only W has been observed to do so. The other naturally occurring isotopes have not been observed to decay (they are observationally stable), and lower bounds for their half-lives have been established:

W, t_1/2 > 7.7×10 years

W, t_1/2 > 4.1×10 years

W, t_1/2 > 8.9×10 years

W, t_1/2 > 8.2×10 years

Thirty-four artificial radioisotopes of tungsten have been characterized with mass numbers ranging from 156 to 194, the most stable of which are W with a half-life of 121.2 days, W with a half-life of 75.1 days, W with a half-life of 69.4 days and W with a half-life of 21.6 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than 24 hours, and most of these have half-lives that are less than 8 minutes. Tungsten also has 11 meta states with mass numbers of 158, 179, with 3, 180, with 2, 183, 185, 186, with 2, and 190, the most stable being W (t_1/2 6.4 minutes).

List of isotopes

1. W – Excited nuclear isomer.
2. ( ) – Uncertainty (1σ) is given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits.
3. # – Atomic mass marked #: value and uncertainty derived not from purely experimental data, but at least partly from trends from the Mass Surface (TMS).
4. Bold half-life – nearly stable, half-life longer than age of universe.
5. ^ # – Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from trends of neighboring nuclides (TNN).
6. Modes of decay:

   EC:	Electron capture
   IT:	Isomeric transition

7. Bold italics symbol as daughter – Daughter product is nearly stable.
8. Bold symbol as daughter – Daughter product is stable.
9. ( ) spin value – Indicates spin with weak assignment arguments.
10. Primordial radionuclide
11. Believed to undergo α decay to Hf with a half-life over 7.7×10 y
12. Believed to undergo α decay to Hf with a half-life over 4.1×10 y
13. Believed to undergo α decay to Hf with a half-life over 8.9×10 y
14. Believed to undergo α decay to Hf or ββ decay to Os with a half-life over 8.2×10 y

References

1. "Standard Atomic Weights: Tungsten". CIAAW. 1991.
2. Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (2022-05-04). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.
3. Briscoe, A. D.; Page, R. D.; Uusitalo, J.; et al. (2023). "Decay spectroscopy at the two-proton drip line: Radioactivity of the new nuclides Os and W". Physics Letters B. 47 (138310). doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2023.138310. hdl:10272/23933.
4. Bianco, L.; Page, R. D.; Darby, I. G.; et al. (7 June 2010). "Discovery of W and Os" (PDF). Physics Letters B. 690 (1): 15–18. Bibcode:2010PhLB..690...15B. doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.04.056. ISSN 0370-2693. S2CID 117121162. Retrieved 11 June 2023.

• Isotope masses from:
  • Audi, Georges; Bersillon, Olivier; Blachot, Jean; Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik (2003), "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties", Nuclear Physics A, 729: 3–128, Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A, doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001
• Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
  • de Laeter, John Robert; Böhlke, John Karl; De Bièvre, Paul; Hidaka, Hiroshi; Peiser, H. Steffen; Rosman, Kevin J. R.; Taylor, Philip D. P. (2003). "Atomic weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 75 (6): 683–800. doi:10.1351/pac200375060683.
  • Wieser, Michael E. (2006). "Atomic weights of the elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 78 (11): 2051–2066. doi:10.1351/pac200678112051.
• "News & Notices: Standard Atomic Weights Revised". International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. 19 October 2005.
• Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources.
  • Audi, Georges; Bersillon, Olivier; Blachot, Jean; Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik (2003), "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties", Nuclear Physics A, 729: 3–128, Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A, doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001
  • National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.x database". Brookhaven National Laboratory.
  • Holden, Norman E. (2004). "11. Table of the Isotopes". In Lide, David R. (ed.). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (85th ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-0485-9.

v t e Isotopes of the chemical elements
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Table of nuclides Categories: Isotopes Tables of nuclides Metastable isotopes Isotopes by element

• Isotopes of tungsten
• Tungsten
• Lists of isotopes by element