The possible existence of an isotope of hydrogen with atomic mass of two was suspected as early as the late 1910s after Frederick Soddy had developed the concept of isotopes. Such an isotope was of particular interest to chemists. Since the hydrogen atom is the simplest of all atoms—consisting of a single proton and a single electron—it is the model for most atomic theories. An atom …
Urey's approach was to collect a large volume of liquid hydrogen and then to allow that liquid to evaporate very slowly. His hypothesis was that the lighter and more abundant protium isotope would evaporate more quickly than the heavier hydrogen-2 isotope. The volume of liquid hydrogen remaining after evaporation was nearly complete, then, would be relatively rich in the heavier isotope. In…
Deuterium is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a relative atomic mass of 2.014102 compared to the atomic mass of protium, 1.007825. Deuterium occurs to the extent of about 0.0156% in a sample of naturally occurring hydrogen. Its melting point is -426°F (-254°C)—compared to -434°F (-259°C) for protium—and its boiling point is -417°F (-249°C)&#…
Scientists now believe that energy produced in the sun and other stars is released as the result of a series of thermonuclear fusion reactions. The term fusion refers to the fact that two small nuclei, such as two hydrogen nuclei, fuse—or join together—to form a larger nucleus. The term thermonuclear means that such reactions normally occur only at very high temperatures, typically a…
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments