Article
Article
Tritium
Article By:
Kaplan, Louis Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.710900
The heaviest isotope of the element hydrogen and the only one which is radioactive. Tritium occurs in very small amounts in nature but is generally prepared artificially by processes known as nuclear transmutations. It is widely used as a tracer in chemical and biological research and is a component of the so-called thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb. It is commonly represented by the symbol 31H, indicating that it has an atomic number of 1 and an atomic mass of 3, or by the special symbol T. For information about the other hydrogen isotopes. See also: Deuterium; Hydrogen
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