Talk:Natural abundance

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[edit] Merge

Article is feeble. Best "merged" into main article and "Natural Abundance" redirect created. 84.92.241.186 20:44, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

That is true. But natural abundance does not have to be restricted to elements (if it were, then merger to Abundance of the chemical elements would be the best option). It can also apply to molecules, isomers, species, food, etc. Abundance gives some clues. --Rumping (talk) 11:44, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
In addition to other natural abundances, "isotopic abundances" (over and above those that occur naturally) will eventually get their own article(s). They play a powerful role, for example, in the laboratory study of presolar grains and their connection to processes of stellar nucleosynthesis. The fact that solar system isotopic abundances are so predictable offers an important backdrop for this (and other) isotopic studies, and I imagine might as well be here as anywhere else provided the substance develops over time. I'll see what I can do to help downstream. Thermochap (talk) 14:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
The natural abundance background is important to the diagnostic power of many isotopic labeling and low blank trace-element detection techniques as well. For example, a colleague of mine irradated a nanogram sized particle with so many neutrons that every U235 atom in it was fissioned, and then counted the number of fission tracks that resulted. He found one, which in turn allowed him to infer U238 abundance (assuming solar system abundance ratios) and hence total U abundance in the particle as well. Thermochap (talk) 16:07, 16 February 2008 (UTC)