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Explain the application of isotope with diagram and examples
Explain the application of isotope with diagram and examples
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Solution
Application of isotopes is not always found to be dangerous as many would believe; rather there are devices and instruments which help trace ground water, trace diseased cells, trace and kill harmful germs or pathogens from our surrounding and in many cases from our body.
Let us discuss these applications in brief. - Smoke detectors using americium 241 in a very small quantity gives off warning beeps to warn against small fires or chances of fire
- Radio isotopes helps in tracing the carbon pathway in photosynthesis process which finally gives us an idea of chemical and biological process in plants
- Irradiation methods applied in food materials not only removes the disease causing microbes but also increases the shelf life of the product. These applications are mainly done with the help of cobalt 60 and the reason cobalt 60 is taken is because it has a very small half-life. Small half-life also helps in removal of cobalt 60 itself from the food very quickly.
- For any kind of bone imaging or disease which are related to bones where we cannot probe in, the imaging is done with the help of radioisotopes radiating gamma ray
- Carbon dating is well known and is used for finding the ages of fossilised materials. Carbon 14 having a half-life of 5700 years could easily give us an idea of the fossil by checking how much of carbon is left in the specimen.
Based on Chemical and Biological Properties The most appropriate isotope study based on chemical and biological properties would be carbon 14 as the formation and application is considered to be very interesting. Carbon 12 being the most abundant of carbon isotopes is the form we get to see around us. The isotope carbon 14 is found to be unstable and exists only in trace and they emit alpha particles and electrons.
The existences of carbon in gaseous forms in atmosphere are either carbon di oxide or methane and apart from this it is usually found as mineral deposits.
The next isotope carbon 14 is a naturally occurring but unstable radioactive form. This is created when nitrogen gets an extra neutron in its nucleus and loses one proton in presence of the cosmic rays. Since the process is a continuous one so we get to see carbon 14 presence all through in atmosphere.
These carbon 14 forms once created reacts with oxygen and gradually form the carbon di oxide which finally dissolves in water system after diffusing in atmosphere and assimilate in plants via photosynthesis.
The assimilation of carbon 14 thus begins through plants and finally gets into animal bodies as well when animals consume the plants.
The decay of carbon 14 is slow and the half-life is 5730 years and once the decay is complete it converts back into Nitrogen 14. Conversion of this unstable form into a more relatively stable form after going through decay process is known as its half-life.
Carbon 14 dating is a process in which the ratio of carbon 14 present in a fossil is compared with the carbon 14 present in atmosphere. By this method we could determine the isotopic matter yet to decay in the specimen. Once we could determine the amount, the age of the fossilised specimen could be determined. Using carbon 14 is possible only if the specimen is less than 50 thousand years old. Based on Nuclear Properties
The main reason for the wide range of the separated stable isotopes used in nuclear chemistry is mainly because the nuclear properties differ from isotopes to isotopes. Apart from this the naturally occurring isotope mixtures obscures the experiment interpretation.
Since the individual isotope properties differ the understanding part of many key nuclear science studies as the understanding part of many systematic studies of the nuclei depend upon the function of neutron and proton number.
This is found to be true for nuclear structure as well as nuclear reaction research. The nuclear structure is based mainly on measurement of the specific nuclides properties and hence the collective models of nuclei are derived from tracing the disappearance of shell effect and the beginning of deformation of isotope series.
Example: The nucleus of calcium which has a range of mass number from 40 to 48 gives a span of 40% neutron to proton ratio.
Application of isotopes is not always found to be dangerous as many would believe; rather there are devices and instruments which help trace ground water, trace diseased cells, trace and kill harmful germs or pathogens from our surrounding and in many cases from our body.
Let us discuss these applications in brief.
- Smoke detectors using americium 241 in a very small quantity gives off warning beeps to warn against small fires or chances of fire
- Radio isotopes helps in tracing the carbon pathway in photosynthesis process which finally gives us an idea of chemical and biological process in plants
- Irradiation methods applied in food materials not only removes the disease causing microbes but also increases the shelf life of the product. These applications are mainly done with the help of cobalt 60 and the reason cobalt 60 is taken is because it has a very small half-life. Small half-life also helps in removal of cobalt 60 itself from the food very quickly.
- For any kind of bone imaging or disease which are related to bones where we cannot probe in, the imaging is done with the help of radioisotopes radiating gamma ray
- Carbon dating is well known and is used for finding the ages of fossilised materials. Carbon 14 having a half-life of 5700 years could easily give us an idea of the fossil by checking how much of carbon is left in the specimen.
The existences of carbon in gaseous forms in atmosphere are either carbon di oxide or methane and apart from this it is usually found as mineral deposits.
The next isotope carbon 14 is a naturally occurring but unstable radioactive form. This is created when nitrogen gets an extra neutron in its nucleus and loses one proton in presence of the cosmic rays. Since the process is a continuous one so we get to see carbon 14 presence all through in atmosphere.
These carbon 14 forms once created reacts with oxygen and gradually form the carbon di oxide which finally dissolves in water system after diffusing in atmosphere and assimilate in plants via photosynthesis.
The assimilation of carbon 14 thus begins through plants and finally gets into animal bodies as well when animals consume the plants.
The decay of carbon 14 is slow and the half-life is 5730 years and once the decay is complete it converts back into Nitrogen 14. Conversion of this unstable form into a more relatively stable form after going through decay process is known as its half-life.
Carbon 14 dating is a process in which the ratio of carbon 14 present in a fossil is compared with the carbon 14 present in atmosphere. By this method we could determine the isotopic matter yet to decay in the specimen. Once we could determine the amount, the age of the fossilised specimen could be determined. Using carbon 14 is possible only if the specimen is less than 50 thousand years old. Based on Nuclear Properties
The main reason for the wide range of the separated stable isotopes used in nuclear chemistry is mainly because the nuclear properties differ from isotopes to isotopes. Apart from this the naturally occurring isotope mixtures obscures the experiment interpretation.
Since the individual isotope properties differ the understanding part of many key nuclear science studies as the understanding part of many systematic studies of the nuclei depend upon the function of neutron and proton number.
This is found to be true for nuclear structure as well as nuclear reaction research. The nuclear structure is based mainly on measurement of the specific nuclides properties and hence the collective models of nuclei are derived from tracing the disappearance of shell effect and the beginning of deformation of isotope series.
Example: The nucleus of calcium which has a range of mass number from 40 to 48 gives a span of 40% neutron to proton ratio.
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