isotope

Also known as chemical isotope, atomic isotope, isotopes

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.]]

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.

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Research

513,002 papers

Bromine isotope effects: Predictions and measurements.ReviewChemosphere · 2020Gelman F, Dybala-Defratyka ADOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.125746
Mercury isotope fractionation during methylmercury transport and transformation: A review focusing on analytical method, fractionation characteristics, and its application.ReviewThe Science of the total environment · 2022Zhang L, Yin Y, Li Y et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156558
Isotope chemistry; a useful tool in the drug discovery arsenal.ReviewBioorganic & medicinal chemistry letters · 2015Elmore CS, Bragg RADOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.11.051
Forensic application of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) for human identification.ReviewScience & justice : journal of the Forensic Science Society · 2024Chesson LA, Berg GE, Edwards AJ et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scijus.2023.11.005
Stable Isotope Composition of Metal Elements in Biological Samples as Tracers for Element Metabolism.ReviewAnalytical sciences : the international journal of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry · 2018Tanaka YK, Hirata TDOI: 10.2116/analsci.18SBR02
From stable isotope ecology to forensic isotope ecology - Isotopes' tales.ReviewForensic science international · 2019Meier-Augenstein WDOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.04.023
Isotope tracking of anthropogenic Cu and Zn in urbanized coastal environments: A review.ReviewMarine pollution bulletin · 2025Jeong H, Ra K, Barreira J et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118337
A guide to precise measurements of isotope abundance by ESI-Orbitrap MS.ReviewNature protocols · 2024Kantnerová K, Kuhlbusch N, Juchelka D et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41596-024-00981-5

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Wikidata facts

Image: Hydrogen Deuterium Tritium Nuclei Schmatic-de.svg

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Commons category: Isotopes
Stack Exchange tag: chemistry.stackexchange.com/tags/isotope

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~34 min read

Article

24 sections

Contents

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

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.