See Also: isotope(medicine)
isotope(dictionary)
isotope(encyclopedia)
isotope(dictionary)
daughter isotope(medicine)
isotope clearance(medicine)
isotope labeling(medicine)
radioactive isotope(medicine)

isotope (iou)



isotope noun. E20.
[from ISO- + Greek topos place (with ref. to occupying the same place in the periodic table).]
Each of two or more varieties of a particular chemical element which have different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus, and therefore different relative atomic masses and different nuclear (but the same chemical) properties. Also freq., any distinct kind of atom or nucleus (= NUCLIDE). E20.
spec. Biology & Biochemistry. A less common, usu. radioactive, isotope of an element as used in tracer or other studies. M20.
Science Mice were labeled..by injection with 10 ¦Ěc of isotope.
Comb.: isotope dilution diminution of the concentration of one isotope (or isotopically labelled compound) by the addition of another isotope of the same element (or of the unlabelled compound), esp. as a technique for measuring the amount of an element or compound in a system by introducing a known amount of a different isotope (or a labelled compound) and then measuring its concentration in a sample of the mixture; isotope effect a variation in some physical or chemical characteristic between one isotope of an element and another; isotope shift a small difference in the wavelength of corresponding spectral lines of different isotopes of an element owing to the different masses and charge distributions of their nuclei.
isotopism noun = ISOTOPY E20.