Re: - C14 Decay rates

[Brian Whatcott <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>]

At 12:51 AM 12/11/01, Jim Green wrote:
> >
> >If you perform electrolysis on a liter of tap water, by time you get
> >down to 35 mL remaining you theoretically should have nearly pure H-2
> >H20 (or D2O). It should have a mass substantially greater than 35
> >grams;
>
> This is an  interesting statement: Does this mean that tap water is 3.5%
> D2O by volume???  It must be late at night and I am missing something.
> /snipped the remaining topics/
> Jim Green


It helps to know that the relevant electrolytic separation efficiency is a
little
better than 97% and the ambient isotope ratio is about 1:7000.

What is the remaining mass when 1 kilogram of tap water is electrolytically
reduced to 99.95% D2O, for these assumptions?

This looks like an amusing puzzle to me!


Brian Whatcott
  Altus OK                      Eureka!