Talk:Carbon-13

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  • shoulndt exhibit the molecule with two C13 isotopes exhibit a mass spectrometric difference of m+2, compared to the molecule with only C12 (M)?

Yep, that's true. Such peaks are observed too. See Figure 1.A in http://www.weddslist.com/ms/maldi.html. The M+2 and even more peaks are observed, too.

  • What's the mass of a C13? It's not exactly m(C12)+1, or is it?

[edit] box

IT WAS COMMENTED OUT UNTIL AN EXPLANATORY CAPTION (clarifying the meaning and relationship of each one of the entries) IS WRITTEN FOR THIS BOX:


Carbon-12 [[Isotopes of Carbon|Isotopes]] of [[Carbon]] Carbon-14
Produced from:
Nitrogen-13
Boron-13		 Decay chain Decays to:
Stable


[edit] Article too narrowly focused

I came to this article after reading the following Space.com article about how scientists are using carbon-13 to deduce the origins of life of Earth:

I wanted to understand how biochemical reactions can distinguish between carbon-13 and other isotopes. But the current material here reads less like an encyclopedia article than an excerpt from a nuclear physics text. Can someone with more domain knowledge than I (on the whole subject of carbon-13, not just how to detect it) broaden this article to incorporate aspects of more general interest, like those that might answer my question? Thank you for any assistance. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 17:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

See Isotope fractionation Jclerman 18:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)