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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.
Nitrogen-15 (15 N) tracing is a technique to study the nitrogen cycle using the heavier, stable nitrogen isotope 15 N.Despite the different weights, 15 N is involved in the same chemical reactions as the more abundant 14 N and is therefore used to trace and quantify conversions of one nitrogen compound to another.
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.
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 ...
Many other isotopes have been used in specialized radiopharmacological studies. The most widely used is 67 Ga for gallium scans. 67 Ga is used because, like 99m Tc, it is a gamma-ray emitter and various ligands can be attached to the Ga 3+ ion, forming a coordination complex which may have selective affinity for particular sites in the human body.
Isotope geochemistry is an aspect of geology based upon the study of natural variations in the relative abundances of isotopes of various elements.Variations in isotopic abundance are measured by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, and can reveal information about the ages and origins of rock, air or water bodies, or processes of mixing between them.
Stable isotope tracers involve only non-radiogenic isotopes and usually are mass-dependent. In theory, any element with two stable isotopes can be used as an isotopic tracer. However, the most commonly used stable isotope tracers involve relatively light isotopes, which readily undergo fractionation in natural systems. See also isotopic signature.
Phosphorus is abundant in biological systems and, as a radioactive isotope, is almost chemically identical with stable isotopes of the same element. Phosphorus-32 can be used to label biological molecules. The beta radiation emitted by the phosphorus-32 is sufficiently penetrating to be detected outside the organism or tissue which is being ...