Atomic weights variability

This book presents a unified treatment of the chemistry of the elements. At present 112 elements are known, though not all occur in nature of the 92 elements from hydrogen to uranium all except technetium and promethium are found on earth and technetium has been detected in some stars. To these elements a further 20 have been added by artificial nuclear syntheses in the laboratory. Why are there only 90 elements in nature Why do they have their observed abundances and why do their individual isotopes occur with the particular relative abundances observed Indeed, we must also ask to what extent these isotopic abundances commonly vary in nature, thus causing variability in atomic weights and possibly jeopardizing the classical means of determining chemical composition and structure by chemical analysis. 

Atomic weights are known most accurately for elements which have only 1 stable isotope the relative atomic mass of this isotope can be determined to at least 1 ppm and there is no possibility of variability in nature. There are 20 such elements Be, F, Na, Al, P, Sc, Mn, Co, As, Y, Nb, Rh, I, Cs, Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm, Au and Bi. (Note that all of these elements except beryllium have odd atomic numbers — why )... 

In summary, as a consequence of the factors considered in this and the preceding section, the atomic weights of only the 20 mononuclidic elements can be regarded as constants of nature . For all other elements variability in atomic weight is potentially possible and in several instances is known to occur to an extent which affects the reliability of quantitative results of even modest precision. 

Hydrogen as it occurs in nature is predominantly composed of atoms in which the nucleus is a single proton. In addition, terrestrial hydrogen contains about 0.0156% of deuterium atoms in which the nucleus also contains a neutron, and this is the reason for its variable atomic weight (p. 17). Addition of a second neutron induces instability and tritium is radioactive, emitting low-energy particles with a half-life of 12.33 y. Some characteristic properties of these 3 atoms are given in Table 3.1, and their implications for stable isotope studies, radioactive tracer studies, and nmr spectroscopy are obvious. 

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... 

Features The rate of deposition is low compared with that of vacuum evaporation, and is affected by variables such as pressure and temperature of coating-chamber atmosphere, arc voltage, cathode current density and geometry of cathode and A/j. A high vacuum is not essential, particularly where an inert gas can be used. The A/, disintegration rate is affected by the atomic weight of coating-chamber gas. 

These atomic weights are known to be variable because of natural variations in isotopic composition. The... 

Most of the pioneers in the theory of valence readily admitted the possibility of variable valence. On the other hand, August Kekule (1829—1896)45 adopted and rigidly adhered to the principle of constant valence. In spite of the mass of data that soon accumulated to contradict this, he insisted that atomicity (his term for valence) was a fundamental property of the atom which is just as constant and unchangeable as the atomic weight itself . The simplicity of this principle, however, was more than outweighed by the complicated and unrealistic formulas required to maintain it, and eventually Kekule stood virtually alone in its defense. 

That the atomic weight of uranium lead is extremely variable has already been shown. In order to interpret this variability its sources must be studied both geologically and mineralogically. On the geologic side of the question the uranium ore can be divided in to three principal classes, which are sharply distinct. The definitely crystallized varieties of uraninite occur in coarse pegmatites, associated with feldspar, quartz, mica, beryl, and other minor accessories. The massive pitchblende is found in metalliferous veins, together with sulphide ores of copper, lead, iron, zinc, and so forth. As for camotite, that is a secondary mineral, found commonly as an incrustation on sandstone, and often, also upon fossil wood. There may be other modes of occurrence, but these are the most distinctive. 

With the purpose to obtain variable cormectivity indices represented by positive real numbers, the atomic weights x and y have to be varied in such a way that the row sums of the augmented adjacency matrix remain positive = 5 + x > 0) in this way, the influence of individual atoms and bonds is in the range from zero to plus infinite. However, as a consequence of the fact that atom or bond contributions in variable cormectivity indices are always positive unless... 

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