Atomic weights of isotopes

ASTON WHOLE NUMBER RULE The atomic weights of isotopes are (very nearly) whole numbers when expressed in atomic weight units, and the deviations from the whole numbers of the atomic weights of the elements are due to the presence of several isotopes with different weights. 

Table A4.1 Atomic weights of isotopes of some common elements 1436...

This evidence as to constancy of atomic weight is conclusive, but it has also been confirmed by three investigations by Richards and his colleagues in this country, and by Honigschmid in Vienna. These later determinations were made as checks upon determinations of the atomic weight of isotopic lead derived from uranium minerals. 

In 1914 Richards and Lembert2 published their determinations of the atomic weight of isotopic lead. Their results may be summarized as follows ... 

It is important to look into the implications of Eq. (1) since the development of the quantum-statistical mechanical theory of Isotope chemistry from 1915 until 1973 centers about the generalization of this equation and the physical interpretation of the various terms in the generalized equations. According to Eq. (1) the difference in vapor pressures of Isotopes is a purely quantum mechanical phenomenon. The vapor pressure ratio approaches the classical limit, high temperature, as t . The mass dependence of the Isotope effect is 6M/M where 6M = M - M. Thus for a unit mass difference in atomic weights of Isotopes of an element, the vapor pressure isotope effect at the same reduced temperature (0/T) falls off as M 2. Interestingly the temperature dependence of In P /P is T 2 not 6X0/T where 6X.0 is the heat of vaporization of the heavy Isotope minus that of the light Isotope at absolute zero. In fact, it is the difference between 6, the difference in heats of vaporization at the temperature T from (> that leads to the T law. 

The number of protons is fixed for each given element and determines what element a nucleus forms. For example, helium [He] always has two protons (Fig. 1.1), lead [Pb] always has 82 protons, and uranium [U] always has 92 protons. In contrast, the number of neutrons in the nucleus of an element can vary. Atoms of a given element with different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes. Because neutrons have mass, the atomic weight of isotopes of the same element varies. Even so, isotopes have the same chemical properties as the base element. For example, in lead there are four common isotopes. In order of abundance, the common isotopes of lead are [the superscript indicates that overall atomic weight (protons plus neutrons) of the atoms] Pb (52.4%), Pb e (24.1 %), Pb o (22.1 %), Pb O (1.4%). All Pb atoms have 82 protons, but Pb ° has 126 neutrons in the nucleus, while Pb ° has 122 neutrons in its nucleus. Despite having different atomic weights, the chemical properties of all lead isotopes are identical. Thus, a solid block of Pb ° would be chemically indistinguishable from a block of Pb °. ... 

In 1957 workers in the United States, Britain, and Sweden announced the discovery of an isotope of element 102 with a 10-minute half-life at 8.5 MeV, as a result of bombarding 244Gm with 13G nuclei. On the basis of this experiment, the name nobelium was assigned and accepted by the Gommission on Atomic Weights of the International Union of Pure and Applied Ghemistry. 

Each of the elements has a number of isotopes (2,4), all radioactive and some of which can be obtained in isotopicaHy pure form. More than 200 in number and mosdy synthetic in origin, they are produced by neutron or charged-particle induced transmutations (2,4). The known radioactive isotopes are distributed among the 15 elements approximately as follows actinium and thorium, 25 each protactinium, 20 uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, californium, einsteinium, and fermium, 15 each herkelium, mendelevium, nobehum, and lawrencium, 10 each. There is frequently a need for values to be assigned for the atomic weights of the actinide elements. Any precise experimental work would require a value for the isotope or isotopic mixture being used, but where there is a purely formal demand for atomic weights, mass numbers that are chosen on the basis of half-life and availabiUty have customarily been used. A Hst of these is provided in Table 1. 

Lead, atomic number 82, is a member of Group 14 (IVA) of the Periodic Table. Ordinary lead is bluish grey and is a mixture of isotopes of mass number 204 (15%), 206 (23.6%), 207 (22.6%), and 208 (52.3%). The average atomic weight of lead from different origins may vary as much as 0.04 units. The stable isotopes are products of decay of three naturally radioactive elements (see Radioactivity, natural) comes from the uranium series (see Uraniumand... 

Numerical values for the atomic weights of the elements are now reviewed every 2 y by the Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic... 

Boron has 2 stable naturally occurring isotopes and the variability of their concentration (particularly the difference between borates from California (low in °B) and Turkey (high in °B) prevents the atomic weight of boron being quoted more precisely than 10.811(7) (p. 17). Each isotope has a nuclear spin (Table 6.1) and this has proved particularly valuable in nmr spectroscopy, especially for The great... 

Nitrogen has two stable isotopes N (relative atomic mass 14.003 07, abundance 99.634%) and (15.000 11, 0.366%) their relative abundance (272 1) is almost invariant in terrestrial sources and corresponds to an atomic weight of 14.00674(7). Both isotopes have a nuclear spin and can be used in nmr experiments. though... 

Some of the important properties of the elements are given in Table 18.1. The imprecision of the atomic weights of Kr and Xe reflects the natural occurrence of several isotopes of these elements. For He, however, and to a lesser extent Ar, a single isotope predominates ( He, 99.999 863% " Ar, 99.600%) and much greater precision is possible. The natural preponderance of " Ar is indeed responsible for the well-known inversion of atomic weight order of Ar and K in the periodic table, and the position of Ar in front of K was only finally accepted when it was shown that the atomic weight of He placed it in front of Li. The second isotope of helium, He, has only been available in significant amounts since... 

Some of the important properties of Group 7 elements are summarized in Table 24.1. Technetium is an artificial element, so its atomic weight depends on which isotope has been produced. The atomic weights of Mn and Re, however, are known with considerable accuracy. In the case of... 

How much would 0.754 mole of chlorine-35 atoms weigh How much would 0.246 mole of chlorine-37 atoms weigh What is the weight of a mole of average atoms in a mixture of the above samples What is the atomic weight of the naturally occurring mixture of these two isotopes of chlorine ... 

The atomic weight increases regularly across the row except for the inversion at cobalt and nickel. We would expect the atomic weight of Ni to be higher than that of Co because there are more protons (28) in the Ni nucleus than in the Co nucleus (27). The reason for the inversion lies in the distribution of naturally occurring isotopes. Natural cobalt consists entirely of the isotope 2 Co natural nickel consists primarily of the isotopes Ni and Ni, the 58-isotope being about three times as abundant as the 60-isotope. 

Parenthetical names refer to radioactive elements the mass number (not the atomic weight) of the Isotope with largest half-life is usually given. 

The problem with triads, as well as the other important numerical hypothesis due to Prout, is easy to discern in retrospect. It is simply that atomic weight, which both concepts draw upon, is not the most fundamental quantity that can be used to systematize the elements. The atomic weight of any element depends on the particular geological origin of the sample examined. In addition, the atomic weight of any particular element is an average of several isotopes of the particular element. 

In 1913, J. J. Thomson4 demonstrated that neon consists of different atomic species (isotopes) having atomic weights of 20 and 22 g/mole. Thomson is considered to be the father of mass spectrometry. His work rests on Goldstein s (1886) discovery of positively charged entities and Wein s (1898) demonstration that positively charged ions can be deflected by electrical and magnetic fields. 

The substances we call elements are composed of atoms. Atoms in turn are made up of neutrons, protons and electrons neutrons and protons in the nucleus and electrons in a cloud of orbits around the nucleus. Nuclide is the general term referring to any nucleus along with its orbital electrons. The nuclide is characterized by the composition of its nucleus and hence by the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. All atoms of an element have the same number of protons (this is given by the atomic number) but may have different numbers of neutrons (this is reflected by the atomic mass numbers or atomic weight of the element). Atoms with different atomic mass but the same atomic numbers are referred to as isotopes of an element. 

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