Talk:Tritium

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Untitled[edit]

I'm sure I heard that fusion bombs have a lithium/tritium core, with the interesting consequence, from the decay of tritium, that the bombs deteriorate on storage, and require remanufacture after a few years... Can anyone confirm?? Malcolm Farmer

Yes, that's true. Well, the bit about the tritium decaying and the bomb yields dropping is true, the lithium/tritium is oversimplified.

It depends on the exact design of the bomb. There's been a lot of work on making it easy to replace the tritium without completely disassembling the weapon.

Does that help? Andrewa 16:51 Mar 6, 2003 (UTC)

The line " Since tritium has the same charge as ordinary hydrogen, it experiences the same electrical repulsive force. However, due to its higher mass, it is less responsive to such forces, and thus can more easily fuse with other atoms." Seems....iffy. If it IS correct it is so oversimplified that it appears wrong. a more rigorous explanation is needed.--Deglr6328 07:43, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

At the energy where it matters all the molecules should be monatomic. By equipartition of energy, p^2/2m = P^2/2M, whence P/p = sqrt(M/m). A tritium atom will therefore bring sqrt(3) = 1.73 times as much momentum to any collision as a protium atom, and sqrt(3/2) = 1.225 times as much as a deuterium atom. The same force acting on the higher momentum will repel it less readily. Vaughan Pratt (talk) 19:33, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

Most common for is tritriated water[edit]

At least the EPA thinks so [1]. But this article more or less ignores that and talks about tritium as if it exists alone as a gas most of the time. That link also states that "Tritium replaces one of the stable hydrogens in the water molecule". That seems much more likely unless the tritriated water is created in the presence of pure tritrium. I couldn't find any solid sources to agree or disagree. Any thoughts? - Taxman 03:02, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

It should be obvious that if you burn pure tritium in pure oxygen you can only get T2O. But in tritiated water there are many billions of hydrogen atoms per tritium atom, making HTO the (very occasional) molecule in a preponderance of H2O. A T2O molecule in tritiated water would be practically a statistical impossibility. Vaughan Pratt (talk) 19:41, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

Mystery reactions[edit]

[tritium is produced] by D(n,gamma)T) and 10B(n,t)8Be

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean; presumably it's some abbreviated description of nuclear reactions, but it's pretty impenetrable. If someone can clarify this, it can go back in. --Andrew 04:07, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

This is shorthand for nuclear bombardments
D(n,gamma)T means that Deuterium is bombarded with a neutron and releases gamma rays to become Tritium. 10B(n,t)8Be means that Boron-10 is bombarded with a neutron and releases a Tritium atom to become Beryllium-8. Both of these reactions produce Tritium. — oo64eva (AJ) (U | T | C) @ 04:18, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

Properties[edit]

It states that all atomic nuclei consist of protons and neutrons, though atomic hydrogen doesn't have a neutron. Am I missing something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.111.13.200 (talk) 00:47, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Not much, assuming you know that tritium and deuterium atoms are "atomic hydrogen" with neutrons. But most hydrogen atoms have no neutrons. The statement is arguably inexact, but it is also semantically arguable that nuclei consist of protons and neutrons, like saying towns consist of males and females, even if there are towns with no females. Knowing that, you might suggest a rewrite, if you think it's worth explaining. Art LaPella (talk) 22:40, 26 July 2012 (UTC)
Since the neutrons are uncharged they don't even need to be mentioned. I edited it just now to kill two birds with the one stone. Vaughan Pratt (talk) 13:54, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

How does 148 PBq/yr yield only 2590 PBq?[edit]

The expected lifetime of a tritium atom is 12.32/ln(2) = 17.77 years. Hence if the natural rate of creation is 148 PBq/yr, shouldn't this be sustaining a global quantity of 148*17.77 = 2630 PBq rather than 2590 PBq? Is 2.25 PBq somehow disappearing each year other than by decay, and if so how? Vaughan Pratt (talk) 16:30, 5 March 2019 (UTC)

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