17Apr 2019 by Vincent Summers 3 Comments

How Many Different Kinds of Water – Water Isotopes – are In Your Glass?

Food, Health
[caption id="attachment_23779" align="alignright" width="480"] Water. Just water. Image by Rollingroscoe.[/caption] The woman of the house comes out of her garden. Having worked for hours, she has a “powerful” thirst that only a glass of water can quench. She opens the freezer door, clinks a few cubes of ice into her glass, and then turns to the sink and fills the voids between the cubes with pure water from the tap. Water consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom – H2O. At first thought, it would seem there should only be one kind of water. This is not accurate, however. That is so because there are isotopes of both hydrogen and oxygen. To understand what an isotope is, it is important to realize that the number of protons in…
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04Jul 2016 by Vincent Summers 2 Comments

Heavy Water –vs.– Regular Water

Chemistry, Physics
[caption id="attachment_14687" align="alignright" width="440"] Heavy Water & Water - Image by Author.[/caption] Hydrogen exists as three varieties or isotopes: protium, deuterium, and tritium. Heavy water, or deuterium oxide (D₂O) is the same compound as ordinary or tap water (H₂O) with one structure difference. Most of the hydrogen atoms in tap water have zero neutrons in their centers, or nuclei. On the other hand, every atom of deuterium contains precisely one neutron. We will not discuss tritium, with its one proton and two neutrons. [caption id="attachment_14693" align="alignright" width="400"] Protium & Deuterium Hydrogen - NASA[/caption] A Closer Inspection of Hydrogen Isotopes The mass of an atom is determined by the nucleus. Since the weight of a proton and that of a neutron are nearly identical, deuterium atoms have a mass essentially double…
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09Mar 2016 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Difference between Fission and Fusion?

Physics
[caption id="attachment_13674" align="alignright" width="440"] Deuterium-Tritium Fusion[/caption] In the 1900s, seeming peace was rudely interrupted by two developments in nuclear science. The first was fission. The second was fusion. Both can be used in positive ways. But rarely does mankind focus on good. What’s the difference between fission and fusion? Fission Fission is the dividing or splitting of something. This word well applies to the splitting of the atom. More often than not, that atom is the uranium atom. In particular, it is 235U. The 235 stands for isotope atomic weight. There are other isotopes of uranium, most notably 238U. Atoms are fissionable with a net release of energy if they have an atomic weight higher than approximately that of iron. Fusion Fusion behaves in the opposite manner. Fusion is defined…
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27Sep 2013 by Vincent Summers 3 Comments

Three Hydrogen Isotopes: Protium, Deuterium, Tritium

Chemistry, Physics
Elements are the building blocks of a chemist’s world. The first and simplest element is hydrogen, H. It is a gas at room temperature. A molecule of hydrogen gas consists of two joined atoms. However, we will discuss the lone atoms, which exist in three varieties: protium, deuterium, and tritium. All hydrogen atoms have an atomic number of 1. This means the central core or nucleus of any of the three varieties of hydrogen contains just 1 proton. All hydrogen atoms have 1 electron in an orbital outside the nucleus. What makes the three varieties different? The nucleus of hydrogen can include in addition to the proton, zero, one, or two neutrons. Protium Hydrogen without any neutron is protium. Hydrogen with one neutron is deuterium. Hydrogen with two neutrons is…
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