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Isotope fractionation occurs during a phase transition, when the ratio of light to heavy isotopes in the involved molecules changes. When water vapor condenses (an equilibrium fractionation), the heavier water isotopes (18 O and 2 H) become enriched in the liquid phase while the lighter isotopes (16 O and 1 H) tend toward the vapor phase. [1]
Denitrification can lead to a condition called isotopic fractionation in the soil environment. The two stable isotopes of nitrogen, 14 N and 15 N are both found in the sediment profiles. The lighter isotope of nitrogen, 14 N, is preferred during denitrification, leaving the heavier nitrogen isotope, 15 N, in the residual matter.
The difference is whether the relative abundance is with respect to all the nitrogen, i.e. 14 N plus 15 N, or just to 14 N. Since the atmosphere is 99.6337% 14 N and 0.3663% 15 N, a is 0.003663 in the former case and 0.003663/0.996337 = 0.003676 in the latter.
Equilibrium isotope fractionation is the partial separation of isotopes between two or more substances in chemical equilibrium. Equilibrium fractionation is strongest at low temperatures, and (along with kinetic isotope effects) forms the basis of the most widely used isotopic paleothermometers (or climate proxies): D/H and 18 O/ 16 O records from ice cores, and 18 O/ 16 O records from calcium ...
Nitrogen-15 is a rare stable isotope of nitrogen. Two sources of nitrogen-15 are the positron emission of oxygen-15 [8] and the beta decay of carbon-15. Nitrogen-15 presents one of the lowest thermal neutron capture cross sections of all isotopes. [9] Nitrogen-15 is frequently used in NMR (Nitrogen-15 NMR spectroscopy).
Nitrogen-15, or 15 N, is often used in agricultural and medical research, for example in the Meselson–Stahl experiment to establish the nature of DNA replication. [12] An extension of this research resulted in development of DNA-based stable-isotope probing, which allows examination of links between metabolic function and taxonomic identity of microorganisms in the environment, without the ...
The stable isotope composition of amino acids refers to the abundance of heavy and light non-radioactive isotopes of carbon (13 C and 12 C), nitrogen (15 N and 14 N), and other elements within these molecules. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
Figure 2 Figure 3 - Isotopic Fractionation Sources. The atoms hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon co-exist naturally in specific proportions with their stable isotopes, 2H (or D), 18O and 13C respectively, in different proportions as shown in the figure 2 below. The amount and distribution of the different isotopes in a molecule is influenced by: [5]