Term: isotope
Literally meaning: equal or same position
Origin: Anc Greek
ίσος/isos(=equal) combining form ισο-/iso- eg isomer, isopod
τόπος/topos(=place) because despite the different atomic weights, the various forms of an element occupy the same place on the periodic table.
Coined/History
by British chemist Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) on suggestion of Margaret Todd who had said of isotopes, "Put colloquially, their atoms have identical outsides but different insides." In a short letter to the editor of Nature, published on December 4, 1913, he proposed the term isotope to designate chemically identical elements with different atomic weights
Definition
Isotopes are the different possible versions of a particular element which have differing numbers of neutrons (a subatomic particle contained in the have the same atomic numbers but different mass numbers.
Isotope Variation Analysis (detection of adulteration in food products or the geographic origins of products using isoscapes) and Isotopic substitution (to determine the mechanism of a chemical reaction via the kinetic isotope effect) are the most frequently used application for isotopes. Isotope
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