Tritiated water

Common card · No. 277962

Tritiated water is a radioactive form of water in which the usual protium atoms are replaced with tritium atoms. In its pure form it may be called tritium oxide (T2O or 3H2O) or super-heavy water. Pure T2O is a colorless liquid, and it is corrosive due to self-radiolysis. Diluted, tritiated water is mainly H2O plus some HTO (3HOH). It is also used as a tracer for water transport studies in life-science research. Furthermore, since it naturally occurs in minute quantities, it can be used to determine the age of various water-based liquids, such as vintage wines. The name super-heavy water helps distinguish the tritiated material from heavy water, which contains deuterium instead.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Benjah-bmm27, Public domain