Natural radioactive isotopes

Another special material was hthium 6. This is not a radioactive isotope. Natural lithium is a mixture of two isotopes mass 6 and 7. Lithium 6 is a very good nuclear fuel, since it can produce tritium when homharded with a neutron. The tritinm and deuterium fuse together relatively easily ... 

Naturally occurring argon is a mixture of three isotopes. Twelve other radioactive isotopes are known to exist. 

Natural lanthanum is a mixture of two stable isotopes, 138La and 139La. Twenty three other radioactive isotopes are recognized. 

Equations 13.31 and 13.32 are only valid if the radioactive element in the tracer has a half-life that is considerably longer than the time needed to conduct the analysis. If this is not the case, then the decrease in activity is due both to the effect of dilution and the natural decrease in the isotope s activity. Some common radioactive isotopes for use in isotope dilution are listed in Table 13.1. 

One example of a characterization application is the determination of a sample s age based on the kinetics for the decay of a radioactive isotope present in the sample. The most common example is carbon-14 dating, which is used to determine the age of natural organic materials. 

Radiochemical methods of analysis take advantage of the decay of radioactive isotopes. A direct measurement of the rate at which a radioactive isotope decays may be used to determine its concentration in a sample. For analytes that are not naturally radioactive, neutron activation often can be used to induce radioactivity. Isotope dilution, in which a radioactively labeled form of an analyte is spiked into the sample, can be used as an internal standard for quantitative work. 

For the naturally occurring elements, many new artificial isotopes have been made, and these are radioactive. Although these new isotopes can be measured in a mass spectrometer, this process could lead to unacceptable radioactive contamination of the instrument. This practical consideration needs to be considered carefully before using mass spectrometers for radioactive isotope analysis. 

Few of the naturally occurring elements have significant amounts of radioactive isotopes, but there are many artificially produced radioactive species. Mass spectrometry can measure both radioactive and nonradioactive isotope ratios, but there are health and safety issues for the radioactive ones. However, modem isotope instmments are becoming so sensitive that only very small amounts of sample are needed. Where radioactive isotopes are a serious issue, the radioactive hazards can be minimized by using special inlet systems and ion pumps in place of rotary pumps for maintaining a vacuum. For example, mass spectrometry is now used in the analysis of Pu/ Pu ratios. 

Lead occurs naturally as a mixture of four non-radioactive isotopes, and Pb, as well as the radioactive isotopes ° Pb and Pb. All but Pb arise by radioactive decay of uranium and thorium. Such decay products are known as radiogenic isotopes. 

It is not necessary that there be two isotopes in both the sample and the spike. One isotope in the sample needs to be measured, but the spike can have one isotope of the same element that has been produced artificially. The latter is often a long-lived radioisotope. For example, and are radioactive and all occur naturally. The radioactive isotope does not occur naturally but is made artificially by irradiation of Th with neutrons. Since it is commercially available, this last isotope is often used as a spike for isotope-dilution analysis of natural uranium materials by comparison with the most abundant isotope ( U). 

A few natural isotopes are radioactive. Of the three isotopes of hydrogen, only that of mass 3 (tritium) i.s radioactive. Radioactive isotopes can be examined by other instrumental means than mass spectrometry, but these other means cannot see the nonradioactive isotopes and are not as versatile as a mass Spectrometer. 

The diffusion coefficients of cations in metal oxides are usually measured through the use of radioactive isotopes. Because of the friable nature of oxides it is exU emely difficult to use the sectioning technique employed for metal samples. The need for this can be avoided by the application of radioisotopes which emit radiation having a well established absorption law in matter. Isotopes which emit y radiation are very useful when the cation has a relatively high diffusion coefficient because of the long-range peneU ation of y rays. The absorption law is... 

Rn. a radioactive isotope of radon, is a decay product of naturally occurring uranium-238. Because it is gaseous and chemically... 

The radioactive isotope tritium, 3H, is produced in nature in much the same way as 1fC. Its half-life is 12.3 years. Estimate the 3H ratio of the tritium of water in the area to the tritium in a bottle of vine claimed to be 25 years old. 

Nuclear activation analysis (NAA) is a method for qualitatively and quantitatively detg elemental compn by means of nuclear transmutations. The method involves the irradiation or bombardment of samples with nuclear particles or high-energy electromagnetic radiation for the specific purpose of creating radioactive isotopes from the stable or naturally-occurring elements present. From the numbers, types and quantities of radioactive elements or radionuclides, it is possible to deduce information about the elemental compn of the original sample... 

Some isotopes that occur in nature are unstable and are said to be radioactive. A few radioactive isotopes, such as uranium-238 and carbon-14, are found on Earth, and many others can be synthesized in nuclear chemistry laboratories, as we describe in Chapter 22. Over time, radioactive isotopes decompose into other stable isotopes. Unstable isotopes decompose in several ways. Most nuclei that have Z > 83 decompose by giving off a helium... 

Radioactive Isotopes are chemically identical to their natural, nonradloactlve counterparts, but their high-energy decays allow them to be detected even though they may compose only a tiny fraction of the overall isotopic... 

C22-0124. A small amount of NaBr containing the radioactive isotope sodium-24 is dissolved in a hot solution of sodium nitrate containing the naturally occurring nonradioactive isotope sodium-23. The solution is cooled, and sodium nitrate precipitates from the solution. Will the precipitate be radioactive Explain your answer. 

Radioisotope—An unstable or radioactive isotope of an element that decays or disintegrates spontaneously, emitting radiation. Approximately 5,000 natural and artificial radioisotopes have been identified. 

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is a technique for the qualitative and/or quantitative determination of atoms possessing certain types of nuclei. Bombarding a sample with neutrons transforms some stable isotopes into radioactive isotopes measuring the energy and/or intensity of the gamma rays emitted from the radioactive isotopes created as a result of the irradiation reveals information on the nature of the elements in the sample. NAA Is widely used to characterize such archaeological materials as pottery, obsidian, chert, basalt, and limestone (Keisch 2003). 

Radioactive isotopes that decay by the emission of alpha or beta radiation undergo a change in the nature of their nuclei and are converted into isotopes of other elements. The emission of gamma rays, on the other hand, does not change the nature of the nuclei of the radioisotopes from which the rays are emitted. Gamma rays are a form of dissipation of nuclear energy. 

Perrier, C., and E. Segre Radioactive isotopes of element 43. Nature... 

Not all of the nuclei of a given sample of a radioactive isotope disintegrate at the same time the nuclei disintegrate over a period of time. The number of radioactive disintegrations per unit time that occur in a given sample of a naturally radioactive isotope is directly proportional to the quantity of that isotope present. The more nuclei present, the more will disintegrate per second (or per year, etc.). 

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