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In nuclear physics, a decay product (also known as a daughter product, daughter isotope, radio-daughter, or daughter nuclide) is the remaining nuclide left over from radioactive decay. Radioactive decay often proceeds via a sequence of steps ( decay chain ).
Archaeological materials, such as bone, organic residues, hair, or sea shells, can serve as substrates for isotopic analysis. Carbon, nitrogen and zinc isotope ratios are used to investigate the diets of past people; these isotopic systems can be used with others, such as strontium or oxygen, to answer questions about population movements and cultural interactions, such as trade.
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]
Carbon on Earth naturally occurs in two stable isotopes, with 98.9% in the form of 12 C and 1.1% in 13 C. [1] [8] The ratio between these isotopes varies in biological organisms due to metabolic processes that selectively use one carbon isotope over the other, or "fractionate" carbon through kinetic or thermodynamic effects. [1]
A nuclide is a species of an atom with a specific number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, for example, carbon-13 with 6 protons and 7 neutrons. The nuclide concept (referring to individual nuclear species) emphasizes nuclear properties over chemical properties, whereas the isotope concept (grouping all atoms of each element) emphasizes chemical over nuclear.
Oxygen (chemical symbol O) has three naturally occurring isotopes: 16 O, 17 O, and 18 O, where the 16, 17 and 18 refer to the atomic mass.The most abundant is 16 O, with a small percentage of 18 O and an even smaller percentage of 17 O. Oxygen isotope analysis considers only the ratio of 18 O to 16 O present in a sample.
The chosen isotope can act as a label on that compound that can be identified through nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). Some of the most common stable isotopes are 2 H, 13 C, and 15 N, which can further be produced into NMR solvents, amino acids, nucleic acids, lipids, common metabolites and cell growth media. [6]
Potassium naturally occurs in 3 isotopes: 39 K (93.2581%), 40 K (0.0117%), 41 K (6.7302%). 39 K and 41 K are stable. The 40 K isotope is radioactive; it decays with a half-life of 1.248 × 10 9 years to 40 Ca and 40 Ar. Conversion to stable 40 Ca occurs via electron emission in 89.3% of decay events. Conversion to stable 40 Ar