Isotopes of metals

[Danijel Gorupec]

I noticed that some metals, like copper or iron, have more than one stable isotope. For example, copper has two abundant isotopes, 63Cu and 65Cu... A short search revealed that it is possible to buy pure isotopes in powder form, I guess, for chemistry/biology research.

 

But I did not find any data about bulk (poly)crystals made of single metal isotope. Does it mean that I should not expect any difference in properties like electric conductivity (interesting for copper) or magnetic permeability (interesting for iron) or gran size in such single-isotope metals? Why so? I hope somebody tested it.

[aajjeee]

im by no means an expert, but im pretty sure they will react diferently to magnetic fields, C13 will be visible in RMN but C12 wont.
only isotopes that have a noticaeable difference in physical proprieties in my knowledge, are small ones (ie deuterium vs hydrogen)

i am not an expert

[Enthalpy]

Pure isotopes are available but expensive. Deuterium is less expensive.

 

There are crystals made from pure isotopes. Seriously expensive, or rather, not marketed: produced without counting the costs when some research topic needs them. They help validate or invalidate some theories, like the superconductivity transition temperature of metals or the heat conductivity of silicon or diamond.

 

I don't expect any signifiant effect on the electric conductivity of copper nor the magnetic permeability of iron (RMN deals with the nucleus' magnetic effect which is tiny, while efficient electrons act collectively in ferromagnetism). Certainly not enough to justify the cost.

 

As ferromagnetism is a molecular property, there are cheaper are more efficient ways to influence it: by the alloying elements, the crystal size and orientation, and so on.

[John Cuthber]

There have been experiments, but isotope separation is hard, and the differences are small.

They get used to check theories

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1102.1467.pdf

 

But, as far as I know the only "practical" use outside of things with "nuclear" in the title is the use of mono-isotopic mercury in a very narrow band lamp.
Now superseded by the uses of lasers anyway.

[Nature Geek]

About 25 years ago, when I worked for a company that grew quartz crystals, we had a small project to grow some oxygen-18 enriched quartz crystals for a professor that was doing ESR research. We needed a couple of liters of Oxygen-18 enriched water for this, and IIRC, it was something like $5000 for the water.

[Danijel Gorupec]

Thanks for your comments, guys... I guess that pure-isotope metals are made by laboratory methods. If wider market is ever found, industrial production probably could significantly reduce those crazy prices.