The half-life of N16

Abstract The radioactive nucleide N 16 was produced by the reaction O 16 (n, p)N 16 with 14 MeV neutrons. The γ-radiation following the β-decay N 16 → O 16 was measured with a scintillation counter. The radioactive decay was observed over 9 half-lives. Special attention was given to the measurement of the background and its possible influence to the value of the N 16 half-life. We find T 1 2 ( N 16 → O 16 ) = 7.14±0.02 sec.