STRUCTURE OF ATOM (ISOTOPES) – NEET

ISOTOPES

The atoms which have same atomic number but different mass number is called isotopes. The atoms which have same number of protons but different number of neutrons is called Isotopes. structure of atom subatomic-particles

EXAMPLE

An oxygen contains 8 Protons, so the Atomic number of Oxygen is 8 and mass number is 16 (refer to mass and atomic no.)

But some oxygen atom have 9 neutrons making the mass number as 17

And moreover oxygen atom has 10neutron, so mass number will be 18

So the isotopes of oxygen are

Similarly there are many elements which exist as isotopes.

The most common example is HYDROGEN

ISOTOPES OF HYDROGEN

There are 3 isotopes of Hydrogen

Hydrogen have 3 isotopes, protium, deuterium & tritium. The protium is the ordinary hydrogen and do not have any neutron in it.

Protium is denoted by H, Deuterium have symbol D and Tritium have symbol T

ISOTOPES OF CARBON

Carbon have 3 isotopes, with atomic number as 6

USES OF ISOTOPES 

• Used in industry to detect the leakage of underground pipe.  
• Used in Medical sciences for treatment of various diseases.  

• Iodine-131 used to detect the activity of thyroid disease 
• Cobalt-60 used to detect cancer 
• Arsenic – 74 used to detect tumors  
• Sodium-24 used to detect blood clots. 
• Used to detect fuel in nuclear reactors. Uranium-235 is used as a radioactive isotope in nuclear power plant for generating electricity.