What are 3 examples of isotopes?

Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element which differ in neutron number, although all isotopes of a given element have the same number of protons in each atom. The term isotope is formed from the Greek roots isos (ἴσος "equal") and topos (τόπος"place"), meaning "the same place". The number of protons within the atom’s nucleus is called the atomic number. Each atomic number identifies a specific element, but not the isotope; an atom of a given element may have a wide range in its number of neutrons. The number of both protons and neutrons in the nucleus is the atom's mass number, and each isotope of a given element has a different mass number.

Stable isotopes are generally defined as non-radioactive isotopic elements that do not decay over time. Radioactive isotopes may also be classified as stable isotopes when their half-lives are too long to be measured. These elements can often be found to occur in nature and include isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, noble gases and metals.

For example, there are a lot of carbon atoms in the universe. The normal ones are carbon-12. Those atoms have 6 neutrons. There are a few straggler atoms that don't have 6. Those odd ones may have 7 or even 8 neutrons. Carbon-14 actually has 8 neutrons. C-14 is considered an isotope of the element carbon.

1. Carbon-14

A naturally occurring radioactive isotope of carbon having six protons and eight neutrons in the nucleus. The isotope Carbon-14 is essential in the research of archaeological and biological remains by radiocarbon dating. C-14 does not last forever. There is a time when it loses its extra neutrons and becomes C-12. The loss of those neutrons is called radioactive decay. That decay happens regularly like a clock. For carbon, the decay happens in a few thousand years. Some elements take longer, and others have a decay that happens over a period of minutes. Archeologists are able to use their knowledge of radioactive decay when they need to know the date of an object they dug up in a process called carbon dating.

2. Iodine-131

It is an isotope because it contains a different number of neutrons from the element iodine. Normal iodine has a mass number of 127, so iodine-131 has 4 more neutrons. It has been found useful in radiation treatments for thyroid cancer treatment. Your thyroid gland absorbs nearly all of the iodine in your body. When radioactive iodine is taken into the body in liquid or capsule form, it concentrates in thyroid cells. The radiation can destroy the thyroid gland and any other thyroid cells, including cancer cells that take up iodine, with little effect on the rest of your body. Radioactive iodine therapy improves the survival rate of patients with thyroid cancer.

3. Tritium

An isotope of hydrogen and is used to make things such as clock faces and wristwatches glow in the dark. Tritium provides an extremely bright self-activated, self-sustaining light source that will stay bright throughout the night and has a life span of twenty years.

Isotopes are forms of an element that have different numbers of neutrons. All isotopes of an element have the same atomic number and number of protons, but they have different atomic masses from each other. Isotopes of an element share similar chemical properties, but have different nuclear properties.

Every element has isotopes. The 81 stable elements have 275 isotopes. But, elements with stable isotopes also have radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes. The radioactive elements, on the other hand, have no stable isotopes. Over 800 radioactive isotopes have been identified. Some of the radioactive isotopes are natural, while others have only been produced in the laboratory.

Word Origin

The term isotopes was coined by Scottish doctor Margaret Todd in 1913. She suggested the word to chemist Frederick Soddy. He adopted it for use in chemistry and physics. The word comes from the Greek words isos (equal) and topos (place). Isotopes of an element occupy the same position on the periodic table. The atomic mass of an element on the periodic table is an average of the masses of the naturally occurring isotopes of that element.

Isotope Notation

There are two common methods of writing isotopes:

(1) The element name or symbol is listed first, followed by a dash and then the mass number of the isotope. For example, hydrogen-3 or H-3 refers to the hydrogen isotope with 1 proton and 2 neutrons, which add together to give a mass number of 3. Carbon-12 or C-12 refers to the stable isotope of carbon with 6 protons and 6 neutrons.

(2) The mass number or both the mass number and atomic number are cited on the upper lefthand side of an element symbol. For example, the isotope of carbon with 6 protons and 6 neutrons is 126C . Ideally, the mass number is positioned directly over the atomic number, but this is not always possible for typed notation.

Isotope Examples

The isotopes of hydrogen are hydrogen-1 (protium, which is a stable isotope), hydrogen-2 (deuterium, which is another stable isotope), and hydrogen-3 (tritium, which is a radioisotope).

Uranium-235 and uranium-238 are two isotopes of uranium. Both are natural isotopes that are found in the Earth’s crust.

Carbon-12 and carbon-14 are two carbon isotopes. Carbon-12 is stable, while carbon-14 is radioactive.

Parent and Daughter Isotopes

When a radioisotope undergoes radioactive decay, the starting isotope is called the parent isotope. Decay produces one or more daughter isotopes. For example, uranium-238 is the parent isotope that decays into the daughter isotope thorium-234.

Isotope vs Nuclide

An isotope refers to a sample of atoms. When the number of protons and neutrons of an individual atom is studied, it is called a nuclide of the element. In nuclear science, the term nuclide is preferred over the term isotope. Nuclides with the same mass number as each other are called isobars. For example, argon-40, potassium-40, and calcium-40 are isobars.

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