isotope
Sign in to savethumb|300px|The three naturally occurring isotopes of hydrogen. The fact that each nuclide has 1 proton makes them all isotopes of [[hydrogen: the identity of the isotope is given by the number of protons and neutrons. From left to right, the isotopes are protium (H) with 0 neutrons, deuterium (H) with 1 neutron, and tritium (H) with 2 neutrons.]]
AI overview
An isotope is a variant of an element that has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons in its nucleus, which gives it different physical properties. Isotopes matter because their different compositions affect how they behave and can be useful for applications like dating objects, medical imaging, and nuclear energy.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
24 sectionsContents
- Isotope vs. nuclide
- Notation
- Radioactive, primordial, and stable isotopes
- History
- Radioactive isotopes
- Stable isotopes
- Neutrons
- Variation in properties between isotopes
- Chemical and molecular properties
- Nuclear properties and stability
- Numbers of isotopes per element
- Even and odd nucleon numbers
- Even atomic number
- Odd atomic number
- Odd neutron number
- Occurrence in nature
- Atomic mass of isotopes
- Applications of isotopes
- Purification of isotopes
- Use of chemical and biological properties
- Use of nuclear properties
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|300px|The three naturally occurring isotopes of hydrogen. The fact that each nuclide has 1 proton makes them all isotopes of [[hydrogen: the identity of the isotope is given by the number of protons and neutrons. From left to right, the isotopes are protium (H) with 0 neutrons, deuterium (H) with 1 neutron, and tritium (H) with 2 neutrons.]]
Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or nuclides) of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), but different nucleon numbers (mass numbers) due to different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. While all isotopes of a given element have virtually the same chemical properties, they have different atomic masses and physical properties.