Natural Abundance of Carbon Isotopes And

Measurement Of Carbon Isotopes

Presented By:
Group 11
Presented To:
Dr. Sarvet Jehan
Course Tittle:
Nuclear techniques in soil
research.
Group Members
 M. Usama Javed 17-Arid-3135
 M. Hassan zahid 17-Arid-4429
 Arbaz Ahmad 17-Arid-2875
 M. Usman 17-Arid-3138
 Ahmad Khan 17-Arid-2844
 M. Osama Azhar 17-Arid-4435
Natural Abundance Of Isotopes
In physics, natural abundance (NA) refers to the
abundance of  isotopes of a  chemical element  as naturally
found on a  planet. The relative atomic mass of these
isotopes is the  atomic weight  listed for the element in the 
periodic table . The abundance of an isotope varies from
planet to planet, and even from place to place on the Earth,
but remains relatively constant in time (on a short-term
scale).
Naturally occurring Isotopes of carbon
 Carbon occurs naturally in three isotopes: carbon 12,
which has 6 neutrons (plus 6 protons equals 12), carbon
13, which has 7 neutrons, and carbon 14, which has 8
neutrons. Every element has its own number of isotopes.
 The addition of even one neutron can dramatically
change an isotope’s properties. Carbon-12 is stable,
meaning it never undergoes  radioactive decay.
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 Carbon-14 is unstable and undergoes radioactive decay with
a half-life of about 5,730 years (meaning that half of the
material will be gone after 5,730 years). This decay means
the amount of carbon-14 in an object serves as a clock,
showing the object’s age in a process called “carbon dating.”
 Isotopes have unique properties, and these properties make
them useful in diagnostics and treatment applications.
Isotopic abundance of Carbon Atoms
Natural abundance of carbon 12
Carbon-12 (12C) is the more abundant of the two 
stable Isotopes of carbon, amounting to 98.93% of the
element carbon; its abundance is due to the triple alpha
process by which it is created in stars. Carbon-12 is of
particular importance in its use as the standard from which
atomic mass of all nuclides are measured, thus, its atomic
mass is exactly 12  dalton by definition. Carbon-12 is
composed of 6 protons, 6  neutrons, and 6  electrons.
Natural abundance of Carbon 13
Carbon-13 (13C) is a natural, stable isotope of carbon with a
nucleus containing six protons and seven neutrons. As one
of the environmental isotopes, it makes up about 1.1% of all
natural carbon on Earth.
Measurement of carbon Isotopes
The main method determining stable isotopes abundances
is mass spectrometry. Since the fifties dual inlet gas isotope
ratio mass spectrometers were used, especially for 13C/I2C
ratio analysis (Boutton, 1991). Due to technical and
electronical improvements the precision of such instruments
is now a factor of ten better than in the early day.
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The great problem was that the element of interest had to
be isolated from the sample and the conversion into the
measured gas (e.g. C02, N2, S02) must not cause any
isotopic fractionation. In the case of carbon the conversion
to C02 is accomplished by dry combustion in an excess of
oxygen (Boutton, 1991).