Table of Contents
What is the difference between potassium-39 and 41?
Since K is atomic number 19, it has 19 protons. It would need 20 neutrons to get to K 39. So K 41 has 19 protons and 22 protons. The difference between each of those isotopes is 2 neutrons.
Why does potassium 40 have a different mass number for potassium-39?
This difference is enough to make potassium 40 unstable. The reason for this is that protons, like neutrons, like to exist in pairs in a nucleus. Potassium 40 contains odd numbers of both – 19 protons and 21 neutrons. As a result it has one bachelor proton and one bachelor neutron.
What is the average atomic mass of potassium-39 and potassium 41?
Potassium
| Isotope | Atomic mass (Da) | Isotopic abundance (amount fraction) |
|---|---|---|
| 39K | 38.963 706 49(3) | 0.932 581(44) |
| 40K | 39.963 9982(4) | 0.000 117(1) |
| 41K | 40.961 825 26(3) | 0.067 302(44) |
What do the numbers 39 40 and 41 after the element name potassium refer to?
Potassium gets its name from the salt potash from which potassium was first isolated. The K symbol for the element comes from the Latin word “kalium”, which means potash. There are three isotopes of potassium that occur naturally: K-39, 40, and 41.
Is potassium 40 radioactive?
Potassium-40 (40K) is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of the common element potassium (potassium represents about 2.4% by weight of the earth’s crust). The half-life of 40K is 1.248 x 109 years [1] its origins are primordial. 40K has an atomic percent abundance of 0.0117%.
What is the mass number of potassium 39?
38.963707
Potassium-39 atom is the stable isotope of potassium with relative atomic mass 38.963707, 93.3 atom percent natural abundance and nuclear spin 3/2.
What is the average atomic mass for potassium?
39.0983 u
Potassium/Atomic mass
What is the symbol for potassium-39?
K
Potassium is a chemical element with symbol K and atomic number 19….8.1Element Forms.
| CID | 10129879 |
|---|---|
| Name | potassium-39 |
| Formula | K |
| SMILES | [39K] |
| Molecular Weight | 38.964 |
How long will it take potassium-40 to reduce by 50%?
Half-life (t½) is the amount of time required for a quantity to fall to half its value as measured at the beginning of the time period. After 1300 million years ( first half life) 200 /2 = 100 g decays and 100 g remains left.
Is potassium-40 Harmful?
There is really no danger from the radiation coming from the 40K that makes up only 0.012% (120 ppm) of the total amount of potassium found in nature. Potassium-40 decays by electron capture and beta decay. The radiation from potassium-chloride is not much more radioactive than natural background radiation.