Precision Measurement of the Half‐Life of 56Co

Gamma rays from a mixed source of 56Co+46Sc were measured in a Ge(Li) detector. The 56Co/46Sc intensity ratios I847/I889 were determined by careful analysis of line shapes and underlying backgrounds. Based on the known 46Sc adopted half‐life value of 83.810(10) d, the fit to the intensity ratios corrected for 46Sc decay from 107 runs over an elapsed time of 172 days gave a half‐life of 77.29(3) d. By combining this result with other published data we obtain a half‐life of t1/2=77.27(3) d for 56Co.