HEAVY WATER

One final characteristic of the H20 molecule is also of great import to those
studying water elsewhere in the Universe. We know that the nuclei of atoms
consist of protons, with positive charge, and neutrons, identical to the protons
but electrically neutral. The electrons orbiting these nuclei are of negligible mass
compared with the protons, and have negative charge. Protons and electrons
exist in equal numbers within the atom, rendering it electrically neutral.
However, the nucleus may contain an excess of one or more neutrons, which
does not effect the neutral state of the atom, but rather causes it to be heavier.
Such atoms are isotopes of the same element.
So, deuterium (D) - an isotope of hydrogen - is formed of one proton, one
neutron and one electron, with a mass twice that of a hydrogen atom. Like
hydrogen, deuterium is a product of primordial nucleosynthesis at the time of
the Big Bang. It has since been progressively destroyed in stellar cores by nuclear
reactions which have transformed it into helium-3 (3He, the figure 3 referring to
the atomic mass), which in its turn is transformed into helium. Even though the
cosmic abundance of deuterium is very small compared with that of hydrogen -
the D:H ratio is without exception less than one in 1,000 - this isotope is a key
element in our investigation of water in the Universe. We shall be looking at it
later.
The two oxygen (160) isotopes (170 and 180) are similarly far less abundant
than 160. The ratios 160:180 and 160:170 are respectively of the order of 500:1
and 2,700:1. Combining the various isotopic forms of hydrogen and oxygen, we
obtain four principal isotopes of the water molecule: H2
160, far and away the
most common; HDO, usually known as heavy water; H2
170; and H2
lsO.
As we examine extraterre