ISOTOPES

What is an Isotope?
Isotopes are atoms of the
same element that have the
same number of protons but
a different number of
neutrons.
ISOTOPES
Two Categories
Stable – isotopes that do
not naturally decay but
can exist in natural
materials in differing
proportions
Unstable – isotopes that

continuously and
spontaneously break
down/decay in other
lower atomic weight
isotopes
APPLICATIONS
OF
ISOTOPES
 Applications of Isotopes
 Structural determination of compounds
 Isotopesare used to trace the formation of
structures by acting as labels.
 Medical Uses
 Sodium-24 used to trace blood flow in the body so
that obstructions can be detected.
 Iodine-131 has been used to test the activity of the
thyroid gland
 Applications of Isotopes

 carbon-14 radio labelling of organic

compounds and in archaeological
dating.
 phosphorus-32 blood volume
determination.
 chromium- 51 measuring of formation
and lifetime of erythrocytes.
Applications of Isotopes
 cobalt -60 radiotherapy for
cancer treatment
 gadolinium- 153 measuring the
density of bones
 radium-226 radiotherapy for

cancer treatment
Applications of Isotopes

Uranium-235 production of
nuclear reactors and weaponry
 Uranium -238 archaeological
dating
Applications of Isotopes

 Americium- 241 smoke

detectors
 iridium -192 industrial

tracer
Applications of Isotopes

 Carbon-11 A positron emission

tomography (PET) scan is an
imaging test that allows doctors
to check for disease in your
body. The scan uses radioactive
tracers in a special dye.
How do we represent specific isotopes?

• Nuclear symbols are used to represent specific isotopes

• To write a nuclear symbol:
• 1.) the symbol of the element is written first
• 2.) the mass number is written as a
superscript to the left of the symbol
• 3.) the atomic number is written as a
subscript to the left. Study the illustration below

mass# 7
atomic# X 3 Li

Li-7 isotope
 Other ways to write elements:

Mass Number
36 Mass Number

17Cl Cl-36

Atomic Number
Can we write isotopes in a different way?
 You can also use the mass number and the name
of the element to designate the atom or isotope
 This is called hyphen notation
 Forexample, two isotopes of carbon are carbon-12
and carbon-13
 The nuclear symbols for these two isotopes would
be:

12
6 C 13
6 C
 Learning Check
 Boron consists of two isotopes, B-10 and B-11
1.) Determine the number of neutrons in each of the
isotopes
a.) B-10: 10 – 5 = 5 neutrons
b.) B-11: 11 – 5 = 6 neutrons

2.) Using the periodic table, write the nuclear symbol

for each isotope given in hyphen notation
10 11
5 B 5 B
3. What is the atomic
number, mass number
and symbol for the
element that has 45
protons and 58 neutrons?
 Calculate the number of neutrons there
are in the following isotopes (use your
periodic table to find the atomic numbers)
1) Carbon-14
2) Nitrogen-15
3) Sulfur-35
4) Calcium-45
5) Iodine-131
 Writing NUCLEAR SYMBOL/ISOTOPIC NOTATION
1. Write the symbol for the atom with an atomic
number of 21 and a mass number of 48.
48 Sc
21
2. Give the complete chemical notation for the
nuclide with 23 protons, 26 neutrons and 23
electrons.
49V
23
3. Write the isotopic notation for
a. Z = 46 A = 110 110Pd
46
 What does the atomic weight of an
element depend on?
 To identify isotopes the mass number is
placed after the element’s name
 Ex: chlorine-35 potassium-37
The atomic weight of an element depends
on the abundance of its isotopes.
 Ifyou know the mass of the isotopes and the
percent (fractional) abundance of the isotopes,
you can calculate the element's atomic weight.
 Calculating Atomic Mass
 Percent(%) abundance of isotopes
 Mass of each isotope of that element
 Weighted average =
mass isotope1(%)_+ mass isotope2(%) + …
100
Atomic Mass of Magnesium
Isotopes Mass of Isotope Abundance

24Mg = 24.0 amu 78.70%

25Mg = 25.0 amu 10.13%
26Mg = 26.0 amu 11.17%
Calculating Atomic Mass Based on Isotopes

 Most elements exist as several different

isotopes. For example, chlorine has two
naturally occurring isotopes:
chlorine-35
chlorine-37
 75.77% of the chlorine in the world
exists as chlorine-35, and 24.23%
exists as chlorine-37.
 Calculating Atomic Mass
Based on Isotopes

 This is why the atomic masses on

the periodic table are not WHOLE
numbers.
 If we know how much of each isotope
exists in the world, we can calculate
the average atomic mass of that
element (which is the number you find
on the periodic table).
Example:

 1. Copper, a coinage metal, exists in

two stable isotopes, Cu-63 and Cu-
65 with percent abundance of
69.09% and 30. 91 %. Their atomic
masses are 62.93 amu and 64.9278
amu respectively. What is the
average atomic mass of copper?
Example:
 2. Silver is found to have two stable
isotopes, one has an atomic mass of
106.904 amu and the other weighs
108.905 amu. The first isotope
represents 51.82 % of the mass of
the element and the second
represents 48.18 %. What is the
atomic mass of the element silver?
Example

2. Calculate the atomic mass of an

element if 60.4% of the atoms have
a mass of 68.9257 amu and the rest
have a mass of 70.9249 amu.
Identify the element in the periodic
table.
Example:

3. Bromine (Br) is made up of two

isotopes, Br-79(78.9183 amu)
and Br-81(80.9163 amu). Given
bromine’s atomic weight of
79.904 amu, what is the percent
abundance of each isotope?
Example:

4. There are two stable isotopes of

nitrogen: nitrogen -14 and nitrogen-
15. Nitrogen -14 has an atomic mass
of 14.0031 amu, while nitrogen-15
has an atomic mass of 15.0001 amu.
Nitrogen has an atomic weight of
14.0067 amu. Calculate the percent
abundance of each isotope.
Example:

5. The natural abundances of the three

stable isotopes of Mg are 78.99%
Mg-24(23.98504 amu), 10.00% Mg-
25(24.9858 amu) and 11.01% Mg-
26(25.9829 amu). Calculate the
atomic weight of Mg and compare
your value with that given in the
periodic table.
 Solve the following:

1. If the average mass of the two

isotopes of boron is 10.81 amu,
what will be the percent
abundance of B-10 and if their
atomic masses are 10. 0129 amu
and 11. 0093 amu respectively?
2. Copper, a coinage metal, exists in
two stable isotopes, Cu-63 and Cu-
65 with percent abundance of
69.09% and 30.91%. Their atomic
masses are 62.93 amu and
64.9278 amu, respectively. What is
the average atomic mass of copper?
PART 2
1. A sample of neon contains three
isotopes, neon-20 (with an isotopic mass
of 19.9924 amu), neon-21 (20.9939
amu) and neon-22 (21.9914 amu). The
natural abundances of these isotopes
are 90.92%, 0.257 %, and 8.82 %.
Calculate the atomic weight of neon.
 2. Silver is found to have two stable
isotopes, one has an atomic mass of
106.904 amu and the other weighs
108.905 amu. The first isotope
represents 51.82 % of the mass of
the element and the second
represents 48.18 %. What is the
atomic mass of the element silver?
3. Europium has two stable isotopes:
Eu-151 with a mass of 150.9196
amu and Eu-153 with a mass of
152.9209. If elemental Europium is
found to have a mass of 151.96 amu
on earth, calculate the percent of
each of the two isotopes.
3. If the average mass of the two
isotopes of boron is 10.81 amu,
what will be the percent
abundance of B-10 and if their
atomic masses are 10. 0129 amu
and 11. 0093 amu respectively?
 2. There are only two naturally
occuring isotopes of copper, 63Cu
65
and Cu. Copper has an atomic
mass of 63.55 amu. What is the
natural abundance of each
isotope?