Elemental composition of the body

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Lisa!
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So when it says that 10% of the body mass consists of Hydrogen, does it mean only 1H(single proton) or it also includes other natural isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium ) ? I know that 1H is the most common hydrogen isotope with an abundance of more than 99.98%, but I just wanted to know exaactly what it means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body

Thanks:smile:
 
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That includes all of the isotopes of hydrogen. It will reflect the isotopic distribution of everything you ingest. I'm not too sure about tritium though. I would hope that particular isotope is present in extremely low concentrations.
 
chemisttree said:
That includes all of the isotopes of hydrogen. It will reflect the isotopic distribution of everything you ingest. I'm not too sure about tritium though. I would hope that particular isotope is present in extremely low concentrations.


Thank you!:smile:
 
To muddy water - isotopic distribution is not always identical.

See for example http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Periodic+table+weighty+revamp/3978117/story.html .

Not that it is something new, fact that atomic masses of elements are different depending on the source is known for many years.
 
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Borek said:
To muddy water - isotopic distribution is not always identical.

See for example http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Periodic+table+weighty+revamp/3978117/story.html .

Not that it is something new, fact that atomic masses of elements are different depending on the source is known for many years.

hmmm...That's interesting!Thank you:smile:
Thanks God that I'm not at school anymore:biggrin:
 
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Lisa! said:
hmmm...That's interesting!Thank you:smile:
Thanks God that I'm not at school anymore:biggrin:


And http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf1003539" too!
 
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