Today we are going to talk about an isotope that is used to produce nuclear energy. Its about deuterium. It is one of the isotope species of hydrogen and is represented by the symbol D or 2H. It has been given the common name heavy hydrogen because the mass is twice that of the proton. An isotope is nothing more than a species that comes from the same chemical element but has a different mass number. Deuterium is used for various purposes.
Therefore, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you all the characteristics, structure, properties and uses of deuterium.
Key features
The distinction between deuterium and hydrogen is due to the difference in the number of neutrons it has. For this reason, deuterium is considered a stable isotope and can be found in compounds formed by hydrogen of totally natural origin. It must be borne in mind that, although they are of natural origin, they occur in a small proportion. Given the properties it has so similar to ordinary hydrogen, can replace it in its entirety in the reactions in which it participates. In this way, it can be converted into equivalent substances.
For this and other reasons, deuterium has a large number of applications in different areas of science. It has become over the years one of the most important elements for research and advances in technology and information.
The main structure of this isotope is made up of a nucleus that has a proton and a neutron. It has an atomic weight of approximately 2,014 grams. This isotope was discovered thanks to Harold C. Urey, a chemist from the United States, and his collaborators Ferdinand Brickwedde and George Murphy, in 1931. The preparation to meet deuterium in its pure state was carried out successfully for the first time in 1933. It is already in the 50s when a solid phase that demonstrated great stability, known as lithium deuteride, began to be used. This substance could replace deuterium and tritium in a large number of chemical reactions.
Advances in science occur when a substance is found that can facilitate chemical reactions for the generation of products. In this sense, if you studied the abundance of this isotope to be able to observe certain things. It has been known that the proportion of deuterium in the water varies slightly depending on the area where the sample is taken. There are some spectroscopy studies that have determined the existence of this isotope on other planets in our galaxy. This can be of great importance to study the composition of other celestial bodies.
Structure and origin of deuterium
We are going to know some facts about deuterium. As we have mentioned before, the main difference between hydrogen isotopes lies in their structure. And is that hydrogen, deuterium and tritium have different amounts of protons and neutrons, so they have different chemical properties. I also have to take into account that the deuterium that exists inside other stellar bodies is eliminated with greater speed than it is originated. This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to study the presence of deuterium in stellar bodies.
Other phenomena of nature are considered to form a tiny amount of deuterium, so its production continues to generate considerable interest today. From the percentage that we have mentioned before about the presence of deuterium in nature, it does not amount to 0.02%. A series of scientific investigations has revealed that the vast majority of the atoms that have been formed from deuterium naturally originated in the explosion that gave rise to the origin of the universe known as Big Bang. These are one of the main reasons why deuterium is thought to be present in large planets such as Jupiter.
The most common way to get this isotope naturally is when they are combined with hydrogen. When this happens, it will be combined in the form of a protium. Scientists are interested in knowing the relationship that is established between the proportion of deuterium and hydrogen in different fields of science. It is widely studied in branches of science such as astronomy or climatology. In these branches it has some practical utilities to know and understand the universe and our atmosphere.
Deuterium properties
We are going to know what are the main properties that this isotope belonging to hydrogen has. The first thing to do is to know what an isotope devoid of radioactive characteristics is. This means that it is quite stable in nature. It can be used to replace hydrogen in various chemical reactions. By having great stability naturally, shows a different behavior to ordinary hydrogen. This happens in all reactions that have a biochemical nature. It is necessary to know before substituting, that although it can be reached by exchanging hydrogen for deuterium in chemical reactions, it is necessary to know that they will have a different behavior.
When the two hydrogen atoms in water are replaced, a compound known as heavy water can be obtained. The hydrogen that is present in the ocean and that is in the form of deuterium it only presents a proportion of 0,016% in relation to protium. In the universe, this isotope has a tendency to fuse more quickly to give rise to helium. If we combine deuterium with atomic oxygen we see that it becomes a toxic species. Despite this, and the chemical properties or very similar to those of hydrogen.
Another of the properties of this isotope is that when deuterium atoms are subjected to the nuclear fusion process at high temperatures, large amounts of energy can be released. It is the exodus, you have studied to be able to implement the nuclear fusion of our planet. Some physical properties such as boiling point, heat of vaporization, triple point and density they have magnitudes greater than those of hydrogen.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about deuterium and its characteristics.