What is a Radiogenic Isotope?
Radiogenic Isotopes and Heat Production: Radiogenic isotopes, such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu), are known for their ability to decay and release heat. This process is a cornerstone of…
Radiogenic
All About Chlorine-36 and Iodine-129
36Cl is analogous to 10Be in its atmospheric production, in this case by spallation of 40Ar rather than 14N, and like 10Be it is quickly swept from the atmosphere by…
All About Beryllium-10
Cosmic rays interact directly with nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere, causing spallation (fragmentation) into the light atoms Li, Be, and B. Amongst these, one of the nuclides produced…
What is Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry is potentially a powerful alternative to radioactive counting in the determination of cosmogenic nuclides because it utilizes every atom of this nuclide in the sample. In contrast, counting…
All About Cosmogenic Nuclides – Part One
The Earth undergoes continuous bombardment by cosmic rays from the galaxy. These are atomic nuclei (mainly protons) traveling through interstellar and interplanetary space at relativistic speeds. The net flux of…