Understanding Isotopes in Chemistry

10 Questions

What determines the physical and chemical properties of the atoms of each element?

The number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus

Where are the protons and neutrons located in an atom?

In the central nucleus

What do isotopes of an element share?

Same atomic number and arrangement of electrons

What property allows isotopes to be separated by processes such as fractional distillation and diffusion?

Atomic mass

Why is Uranium-235 used in nuclear reactors?

It has a lower energy requirement for fission

How are different isotopes of an element generally determined?

Mass spectrometry

How can the number of neutrons in an isotope be calculated?

By subtracting the atomic number from the atomic mass

What is the main difference between isotopes of the same element?

Different number of neutrons

Who coined the term 'isotope' and when was it coined?

Margaret Todd in 1921

What causes radioactivity in isotopes?

Excessive number of protons

Study Notes

Isotopes are variants of a single element that have the same number of protons but differ in the number of neutrons.
The term "isotope" comes from the Greek words isos (same) and topos (place), reflecting their identical position in the Periodic Table.
The history of isotopes began in 1913 when Frederick Soddy described the concept, with the term coined by Margaret Todd in 1921. Soddy received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in 1921.
Initially, atoms were believed to consist only of protons and electrons, but the differing atomic masses of isotopes suggested the presence of uncharged particles, which later became known as neutrons.
Isotopes are named using the element's name followed by the atomic mass. For example, Carbon-12, Carbon-13, and Carbon-14.
Hydrogen, the most abundant element, has three naturally occurring isotopes: protium (Hydrogen-1), deuterium (Hydrogen-2), and tritium (Hydrogen-3), and four synthetic isotopes.
Stable isotopes have stable nuclei and are not radioactive, while radioactive isotopes have unstable nuclei and undergo radioactive decay.
Radioactivity can be caused by an excessive number of neutrons, leading to the conversion of neutrons to protons and electrons. Alternatively, too many protons can also lead to instability.
Isotopes can be classified based on various criteria, including radioactivity, stability, and origin. The two major types are stable isotopes (non-radioactive) and radioactive isotopes.
Isotopic abundance refers to the percentage of each isotope found in nature and is used to calculate the average atomic mass of an element.
Processes such as radioactive decay and mass fractionation lead to variations in isotopic abundance.
Isotopes share the same chemical properties due to the same number of protons and electrons, except for hydrogen.
Physical properties of isotopes can differ due to the varying number of neutrons.