how do radioactive compounds work?

[rogerxd45]

ok so radioactive elements decay into other stable or unstable isotopes and i under stand that and how it works.

 

but how is this affected when its in a compound?

 

lets use tritium for example which decays into He3. so if you reacted tritium with oxygen you create Tritiated water also known as super heavy water. similar to "heavy water" that has the H2 isotope in place of regular H.

 

so you have T20(using T for tritium or H3). so the half life of tritium is 12.32 years as it decays into He3.

 

So as it decays does the chemical bond stay intact? leaving you with He(3)2O?

 

with helium being a noble gas this seem like it would cause some problems with the compound.

 

Ok so what happens when a solid radioactive isotope decays into a liquid or gaseous isotope?

 

so do the compounds stay intact or do they break apart into their respective elements?

or what happens exactly?

[Moontanman]

If you had a sealed tank of super heavy water that decayed completly you would have a tank of oxygen and helium3. Nuclear decay would break the chemical bonds.

[rogerxd45]

If you had a sealed tank of super heavy water that decayed completly you would have a tank of oxygen and helium3. Nuclear decay would break the chemical bonds.

 

is this ALWAYS the case or do would they stay together in certain compounds?

 

the tritium makes sence since He cant bond directly to oxygen. but if you had two different elements that were combatable would they stay together? or do they break apart and then possibly reform under the right situations?

[louis wu]

Well if you have a ¹⁴C that decays to ¹⁴N by beta emission, the 2 elements are fairly compatible.

Of course C usually has 4 bonds while N has 3 bonds. N can be in a 4 bonded state as a positive ion.

 

If this decay happens in a protein chain inside your body, possibly a very interesting event has occurred with regard to your health.

[insane_alien]

if an atom decays in a molecule, it will remain bound. the daughter product however will be an ion. this will change the propertied of the molecule and likely cause it to break appart somewhat.

[rogerxd45]

 

If this decay happens in a protein chain inside your body, possibly a very interesting event has occurred with regard to your health.

 

tome this seems like a plausable cause of some cancers, an element that decays into another inside a complex molecule like you said could have some interesting affects and since isotopes are intermixed with the stable element its very likely that some of them get formed into the proteins or other molecule inside your body,

 

so depending on the halflife of the given isotope it could decay inide of you.

 

well i dont know enough about health and the human body to know but it seems possible to me

[John Cuthber]

IIRC the first synthesis of the perbromate ion was by radioactive (beta) decay of a radioisotope of selenium as a selenate.

The yield was lousy, but they did make the stuff.

 

When radioactive decay occurs in the body it's not just the molecule containing the decayed atom that gets damaged. The radiation trashes a bunch of nearby molecules too.

[jdurg]

if an atom decays in a molecule, it will remain bound. the daughter product however will be an ion. this will change the propertied of the molecule and likely cause it to break appart somewhat.

 

I don't think that's an absolute statement that is true for every instance. For example, in the example given earlier, if T2O decays, I believe that the Helium becomes freed from the chemical bond (as the decay of T provides enough energy to break the bond) and the result is a couple free radicals which make it just as nasty.