Word Origin & History

isotope
1913, introduced by British chemist Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) on suggestion of Margaret
Todd, from Gk. isos "equal" + topos "place;" so called because despite the different atomic
weights, the various forms of an element occupy the same place on the periodic table.
Isotopes
Atoms of the same element can have different numbers of neutrons; the different possible
versions of each element are called isotopes. For example, the most common isotope of
hydrogen has no neutrons at all; there's also a hydrogen isotope called deuterium, with one
neutron, and another, tritium, with two neutrons.

Hydrogen

Deuterium

Tritium

If you want to refer to a certain isotope, you write it like this: AXZ. Here X is the chemical symbol
for the element, Z is the atomic number, and A is the number of neutrons and protons combined,
called the mass number. For instance, ordinary hydrogen is written 1H1, deuterium is 2H1, and
tritium is 3H1.
How many isotopes can one element have? Can an atom have just any number of neutrons?
No; there are "preferred" combinations of neutrons and protons, at which the forces holding nuclei
together seem to balance best. Light elements tend to have about as many neutrons as protons;
heavy elements apparently need more neutrons than protons in order to stick together. Atoms
with a few too many neutrons, or not quite enough, can sometimes exist for a while, but they're
unstable.
I'm not sure what you mean by "unstable." Do atoms just fall apart if they don't have the right
number of neutrons?
Well, yes, in a way. Unstable atoms are radioactive: their nuclei change or decay by spitting out
radiation, in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves.
Beta Decay
I'm going to illustrate how radioactive decay works with the help of an isotope table
applet, which should now be open in a separate window. If it isn't, click here: to open it now.
There are several ways in which radioactive atoms can decay. Here's one example: suppose an
atom has too many neutrons to be stable.That's the case with tritium, 3H1.
Does it just kick out one of the neutrons?
No, it can't do that; the neutrons are stuck too firmly where they are. What it can do...well, I'll let
you see for yourself. In the applet, click on the button labeled H3 (for hydrogen 3, or tritium).
The neutron turns into a proton! 3H1 becomes 3He2.

Right. An unstable isotope of hydrogen has converted itself into a stable isotope of helium. You'll
notice that 3H1 and 3He2 have the same mass number, which is good, because mass has to be
conserved.
Right. An unstable isotope of hydrogen has converted itself into a stable isotope of helium. You'll
notice that 3H1 and 3He2 have the same mass number, which is good, because mass has to be
conserved.
There is a problem, though. Electric charge also has to be conserved.
Hydrogen has only one proton, and helium has two, so you'd end up with twice as much positive
charge as you started with. How do you get around that?
When 3H metamorphoses into helium 3, it also gives off an electron--which has hardly any mass,
and is endowed with a negative charge that exactly cancels one proton. This process is known as
beta decay, and the electron is called a beta particle in this context.
You can write out the nuclear reaction involved in the beta decay of tritium by giving the electron a
"mass number" of 0 and an "atomic number" of -1:
3H1 => 3He2 + 0e-1
Notice that the mass numbers on each side add up to the same total (3 = 3 + 0), and so do the
charges (1 = 2 + -1). This must always be true in any nuclear reaction.