Masses of isotopes of H, He, C, N, O, and F

The mass differences of 17 doublets involving the atoms ³H, ³He, ⁴He, ¹³C, ¹⁴C, ¹⁴N, ¹⁵N, ¹⁶O, and ¹⁹F have been measured with a rf mass spectrometer. By least squares adjustment, best values are obtained for the masses of these eight atoms for which the estimated errors are materially less than for previously published values. By using Einstein's mass energy relation, very accurate values are derived for the β decay energies of ³H and ¹⁴C and for the neutron binding energies in ¹³C, ¹⁴C, and ¹⁵N. The last ones offer a possibility to improve the calibration for multi-MeV (capture) γ rays by an order of magnitude.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE ³H, ³He, ¹³C, ¹⁴C, ¹⁴N, ¹⁵N, ¹⁶O, ¹⁹F measured atomic mass. ³H, ¹⁴C deduced Q^-. ²H(n, γ), ³He(n, γ), ¹²C(n, γ), ¹³C(n, γ), ¹⁴N(n, γ) deduced Q.