Oxygen-28: Science is a very diverse field, and we tend to find something new every second. Scientists put all their time and energy into finding something that can be used to make people’s lives better. Recently, a team of scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology successfully created a new isotope of oxygen. This new isotope is called oxygen-28 as it contains 20 neutrons and 8 protons in its nucleus. This complete report is published in the news section of Nature Journal. Here are some highlights from the findings. Check out the article for more information.
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What is an isotope?
An isotope is a variant of an element with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons in its nucleus. This results in a different atomic mass for the isotope. Isotopes of an element share similar chemical properties but may have distinct physical properties and radioactive behaviour.
Isotopes of oxygen
Oxygen is an essential and unique element that contributes to life on Earth. There are varieties of oxygen isotopes, for example, O11, O12, O13, O14, O15, O16, O17, O18, O19, O20, O21, O22, O23, O24, O24, O25, O26, and O27. Most of these are unstable and have a shorter half-life. Out of all these isotopes of oxygen, O16, O17, and O18 are stable isotopes. These three oxygen isotopes occur naturally in proportions of 99.76%, 0.04%, and 0.2%, respectively. Hence, out of these stable isotopes of oxygen, O16 is the most common, whereas the other two occur in very low concentrations.
Oxygen-28 Isotope
According to news published in Nature Journal on August 30, 2023, a new oxygen isotope has been discovered by a team of physicists working under the guidance of Professor Yosuke Kondo at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. This new isotope of oxygen, oxygen-28, was created when the team fired a beam of calcium-48 isotopes on a target of beryllium.
Oxygen-16 has 8 neutrons and 8 protons, which provide it stability. The new isotope of oxygen (oxygen-28), with an atomic mass of 28, has 12 extra neutrons in its nucleus. This makes a total of 20 neutrons and 8 protons in the nucleus.
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A large international team of researchers used instruments at the Riken RI Beam Factory to detect oxygen-28. Credit: Yosuke Kondo |
Check the tweet by nature;
The isotope oxygen-28 is expected to be ‘doubly magic’, with strongly bound neutrons and protons in its nucleus https://t.co/UblHdkl3EA
— nature (@Nature)
August 30, 2023
How was Oxygen 28 Generated?
The oxygen-28 isotope is a new oxygen isotope produced at the Riken RI Beam Factory in Wako, Japan. The team of scientists fired a calcium-48 isotope beam onto the beryllium target, which led to the creation of the fluorine-29 isotope. The nucleus of this isotope has one extra neutron compared to oxygen-28. Thus, scientists kicked out that extra neutron from fluorine-29 by smashing into the thick barrier of liquid hydrogen. The removal of one neutron from F29 generated O28.
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The Riken RI Beam Factory in Wako, Japan, creates streams of radioactive isotopes with help from this superconducting ring cyclotron. Credit: Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science |
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