Half-life 12.5 years, radiation β,
radiotoxic material.
Bombarding particle in cyclotrons, activator
in self-luminous phosphors, in cold cathode tubes,
tracer in biochemical research and various special
problems in chemical analysis, luminous instrument
dials, thermonuclear power research.
T. Radioactive isotope of hydrogen,
mass number 3, isotopic weight 3.017 (two neutrons
and one proton in the nucleus).
tritium: Symbol T. An isotope of hydrogenwith mass number 3; i.e. thenucleus contains 2 neutrons and 1proton. It is radioactive (half-life 12.3years), undergoing beta decay tohelium–3. Tritium is used in labelling.
A radioactive isotope of hydrogen of mass
number 3. The nucleus contains 1 proton
and 2 neutrons. Tritium decays with emission of low-energy beta radiation to give
3He. The half-life is 12.3 years. It is useful
as a tracer in studies of chemical reactions.
Compounds in which 3H atoms replace the
usual 1H atoms are said to be tritiated. A
positive tritium ion, T+, is a triton.
Tritium is one of the three isotopes of hydrogen, and is
radioactive.
