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isotope
[ ahy-suh-tohp ]
noun
- any of two or more forms of a chemical element, having the same number of protons in the nucleus, or the same atomic number, but having different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, or different atomic weights. There are 275 isotopes of the 81 stable elements, in addition to over 800 radioactive isotopes, and every element has known isotopic forms. Isotopes of a single element possess almost identical properties.
isotope
/ ˌaɪsəˈtɒpɪk; ˈaɪsəˌtəʊp; aɪˈsɒtəpɪ /
noun
- one of two or more atoms with the same atomic number that contain different numbers of neutrons
isotope
/ ī′sə-tōp′ /
- One of two or more atoms that have the same atomic number (the same number of protons) but a different number of neutrons. Carbon 12, the most common form of carbon, has six protons and six neutrons, whereas carbon 14 has six protons and eight neutrons. Isotopes of a given element typically behave alike chemically. With the exception of hydrogen, elements found on Earth generally have the same number of protons and neutrons; heavier and lighter isotopes (with more or fewer neutrons) are often unstable and undergo radioactive decay .
isotope
- In physics , different forms of the same element , with nuclei that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons . Isotopes are distinguished from each other by giving the combined number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. For example, uranium 235 is the isotope of uranium that has 235 protons and neutrons in its nucleus rather than the more commonly occurring 238. All elements have isotopes.
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Derived Forms
- ˌisoˈtopically, adverb
- isotopic, adjective
- isotopy, noun
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Other Words From
- i·so·top·ic [ahy-s, uh, -, top, -ik], adjective
- iso·topi·cal·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins
Origin of isotope1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of isotope1
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Compare Meanings
How does isotope compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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Example Sentences
The minerals in the water contain trace amounts of uranium, which gradually decays into different uranium isotopes and eventually into a completely different element, thorium.
The thousands of meteorites in NASA collections can be divided into two main classes, based on their isotopes—the relative amounts of the same elements with different numbers of neutrons.
The isotopes in the Bom Jesus tusks revealed that these elephants lived in a mix of forests and savannas.
The researchers gave the critters a cocktail of chemicals labeled with isotopes, forms of elements having different masses.
Next, the researchers used the oxygen isotopes in the peat to track the waxing and waning of the region’s sea ice over thousands of years.
Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen containing a proton and neutron in its nucleus, while normal hydrogen has only a proton.
After eight years, traces of the isotope are expected to be extremely low.
The next step was to test whether Arafat had actually ingested or inhaled a quantity of the suspect isotope.
One of the isotopes of fission products, when fuel melts, is an iodine isotope, and it goes in your body through your thyroid.
All we've been able to find is some strange isotope but we don't know how to reproduce it or synthesize it.
Well, heavy water is made of one atom of oxygen plus two atoms of deuterium, which is the first isotope of hydrogen.
Why nail the "power metal" down to an isotope of gold with an atomic weight of 197?
There must be another one in either wing, for the isotope plant and the cartridge-case plant.
An isotope is just a different variety of the ordinary kind of atom in each element.
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