Essay on Isotopes: Atom and Carbon

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Isotopes By Toby Bryer

Isotopes are atoms of the same element with the same number of protons but have a different amount of mass and neutrons. It is possible for the same chemical element to have different numbers of neutrons. The number of protons and electrons is the same, so the atoms behave the same way chemically. Different amount of neutrons means there is a different relative mass. Eg.
Carbon 12 and carbon 14 are two isotopes of the element carbon with mass numbers 12 and 14. The atomic number is 6 so that means there are 6 protons and that for carbon 12 there are 6 neutrons and for carbon 14 there are 8 neutrons.
Carbon 12 and carbon 14 are two isotopes of the element carbon with mass numbers 12 and 14. The atomic number is 6 so that means there are 6 protons and that for carbon 12 there are 6 neutrons and for carbon 14 there are 8 neutrons.

The relative atomic mass is an average of the masses of the different stable isotopes as well as the proportion of each one present, so it is not usually a whole number. Most periodic tables show the relative atomic mass number of each element rounded to the nearest whole number but chlorine and copper are exceptions. You can work out the relative atomic number by multiplying the percentage of atoms to the mass which they have and add it to the other percentage of atoms multiplied by their mass and put it all over 100.

Looking at isotopes ratio, the mass spectrometer which measures the ratios of the isotopes. The method is if you have an object moving and your there at a sideways force changing its course from a straight line, it will be deflected from its original line and the size of the deflection depends on the mass of the object. This showing the less, the deflection the heavier the object. This applies with atoms as they can be deflected by magnetic fields.
The diagram below explains the mass spectrometer.

Some isotopes are radioactive which means they give out radiation from their nucleus and this never stops. There are three main types of radiation emitted from radioactive atom. These are alpha, beta and gamma. Alpha radiation consists of alpha particles. An alpha particle is identical to the nucleus of a helium atom, which comprises two protons and two neutrons. Beta radiation consists of high energy electrons emitted from the nucleus. Gamma radiation is very short wavelength - high frequency - electromagnetic radiation. This is similar to other types of electromagnetic radiation such as visible light and X-rays, which can travel long distances.

Carbon 14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Carbon-14 was discovered in the 1940s at the California radiation lab. Its presence in organic materials is the reason we can date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples. Carbon 14 decays into nitrogen through beta decay. The natural source of carbon 14 on earth is a cosmic ray which acts upon nitrogen. Different carbon isotopes do not differ in their chemical properties.

A use of carbon 14 is Carbon dating which allows us to see how old organic compounds are such as bones and wood. A story 3 years ago in the news about a boy’s skeleton being found at Stonehenge and using carbon 14 they were able to find the
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