Introduction

Syllabus

Pauling’s Rules reading, supplemental geology reading

Isotope Geochemistry

1. Geochemistry:

Study of the origins and chemistry of natural materials.

Composition

Phase changes

Reactions

Temperature.

Age or duration.

Cosmochemistry (subdiscipline):

Study of the origin and composition of the solar system.

Nucleosynthesis.

Age of meteorites.

Condensation of planets.

Differentiation of planets.

Biogeochemistry (subdiscipline)

Interactions between life, oceans, atmosphere, and geology.

Origins of life.

Climate change.

2. Isotopes:

Atoms belonging to the same element, but with different masses.

Element::atomic number::# of protons.

Isotopes: different # of neutrons.

Mass ~(# of protons + # of neutrons).

Chemistry: Isotopes generally have very similar chemical behavior.

1^st five weeks of class – assume no chemical separation.

Weeks 6-10 – all about chemical separation.

Nuclear Chemistry: Isotopes have distinct nuclear structures

Radioactivity

Isomers

Stability to nuclear reactions