isotope
EYE-suh-tohp
Definition
A variant form of a chemical element that has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, often used in scientific analysis to trace the geographical origin of materials.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek words 'isos' (meaning 'equal') and 'topos' (meaning 'place'). It was coined by Frederick Soddy to describe elements that occupy the same place in the periodic table despite having different atomic weights.
In the news
Researchers performed a lead-isotope study on the copper in Ötzi’s axe to determine where the metal was mined. This evidence allowed them to track the movement of materials across long distances in the Copper Age.
In 1991, two hikers in the Ötztal Alps found a body sticking out of the melting ice and assumed it was a recent climber, but the corpse turned out to be a 5,300-year-old man with an arrowhead in his shoulder, 61 tattoos, and a 99.7%-pure copper axe whose met
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com