uses of isotopes

Hydrogen gas in its natural state has 3 isotopes of atomic mass 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Thus average mass works out to be 1.008 a.m.u rather than 1 a.m.u. This in turn complicates the atomic masses of all other element..

Radioisotopes are frequently used as tracers or tagged atoms in various fields. In tracer technique, a radioactive isotope is added to the reactants and its movement is studied by measuring radioactivity in different par..

a) Metal casting can be tested for cracks by putting them in baths of radioactive salts. The castings are then inspected for radioactivity to find out any penetration of salts into cracks. Absence of salt penetration indicates absence of cracks. b) Radioactive isotopes can be used..

The mass of 1/12 th 12 C isotope of carbon is now the standard used for defining one atomic mass unit (a.m.u). It is equal to 1.66 x 10 -24..

In order to find if blood is circulating to a wound or not, a radioactive isotope is injected into the blood stream. After a time period, blood from the wound is examines for its radioactivity. If no radioactive isotope is detected, it means that passage of blood is hindered. T..

Natural uranium contains very little (0.72%) of its fissionable isotope 2 3 5 U needs to be enriched in the latter to be useful as a fuel in nuclear reactor. A breeder reactor is one that produces more fissionable nuclei than it consume..

The age of fossils of plant or animal origin can be determined by carbon dating technique developed by Willard Libby in 1949. The radioactive isotope of carbon ( 6 C 1 4 ) is used to determine the date at which an animal or plant had died. Carbon Dating The method of measu..

Proposed by Dalton in 1803, this law states that: 'When two elements combine to form two or more compounds, then the different masses of one element, which combine with a fixed mass of the other, bear a simple ratio to one another'. This law is evident when one element combines with another to giv..

Radioactive Dating - All radioactive decays follow first order kinetics. Therefore, the half-life of a radioactive element is independent of the amount of sample. With the help of half-life values of a suitable radioisotope of an element, which is present in a rock, or in an artefact, the age of th..

PET is a sophisticated version of radio isotope scanning. The principle behind PET scanning is as follows. Short - lived radio isotopes such as 1 1 C, 1 3 N or 1 5 O are produced and incorporated into a solution (of glucose) that can be injected into the body. As the radio ..