Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What are two radioactive isotopes of oxygen?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
447k+ views
like imagedislike image
Hint: The word isotope is generally made up from two Greek words called isos and topes which have the meaning “the same place”. The reason for using this word is to identify that isotopes variants of a single element are found in the same position of the periodic table.

Complete answer:
Radioactive decay also known as nuclear decay or nuclear disintegration and can be defined as the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy in the form of radiations. Molecule which contains an unstable nucleus is known as radioactive.
The isotopes of an element generally show different masses; this is due to the unequal numbers of neutrons present in them. Generally the elements which have odd atomic numbers will have one or two stable isotopes whereas elements with even atomic numbers will mostly have 3 or more stable isotopes. However exceptions are also there in carbon, helium and beryllium atoms.
An isotope is generally represented by the name of the particular element at the beginning which is followed by a hyphen and the mass number. Isotopes are said to be either stable or radioactive and the isotopes which are radioactive are known by the name radioisotopes or radionuclides.
According to this explanation there are generally three isotopes of oxygen are present out of which two most stable radioactive isotopes of oxygen are 12O 15O having half-life time 122.24 seconds and the other one is 12O having very less half-life.

Note:
Different isotopes have nearly identical chemical behaviors but different physical properties like mass, melting or boiling point, density, and the freezing point because the physical properties of any isotope mostly depend on the mass of each isotope.
Latest Vedantu courses for you
Grade 11 Science PCM | CBSE | SCHOOL | English
CBSE (2025-26)
calendar iconAcademic year 2025-26
language iconENGLISH
book iconUnlimited access till final school exam
tick
School Full course for CBSE students
PhysicsPhysics
ChemistryChemistry
MathsMaths
₹41,848 per year
Select and buy