Name: Electrovalency
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 1 min 51 s
Description: Do you know how chemical bonds are formed? They are formed in order to attain a stable electronic configuration. Let's watch the video to learn about the pro...

Question

Define isotopes. What are the essential characteristics of isotopes? Give important applications of isotopes.

Accepted Answer

Isotopes are the atoms of the same element having the same atomic number but different mass number.

Characteristics of isotopes:

In other words, isotopes differ in the mass but have the same electrical charge on their nuclei and same chemical properties. Since the atomic number of different isotopes of the same element is same, it means that they have the same number of electrons and protons. The difference in their mass number is due to the different number of neutrons present in their nuclei. The atomic number being the same, the isotopes will have an identical electronic distribution in shells.

Some important uses of the isotopes are given below:

In nuclear reactors: Isotopes of uranium is used as a fuel in the nuclear reactors.

In carbon dating: One of the important application of radioisotopes is radioisotope dating or popularly known as carbon dating. It is intensively used to estimate the age of fossils like dead plants, animals and rocks. It is based on the measuring of levels of carbon in the fossils.

Define isotopes. What are the essential characteristics of isotopes? Give important applications of isotopes.

Important Questions on Structure of Atom

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