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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18May 2016 by Vincent Summers 6 Comments

Total Energy in One Hydrogen Atom

Chemistry, Physics
[caption id="attachment_14456" align="alignright" width="440"] Hydrogen Bomb[/caption] Hydrogen is the lightest of the elements. However, there are three isotopes of hydrogen. The lightest of these is protium. It contains just one proton and one electron. Let’s determine the total energy of one protium atom. Its mass is 1.007822 atomic mass units. So what is the total energy one hydrogen atom produces if obliterated? By obliterated, we mean 100% conversion from matter to energy, not the mere energy of separation of particles, as in fission. Einstein’s Mass-to-Energy Equation In our calculating, it is important we stick to proper units. If we were cooking and the recipe called for a cup of flour, would we substitute a tablespoon? Our equation is Einstein’s mass to energy expression, E = mc² If the mass is…
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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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