Isotope fractionation Isotope fractionation Isotope fractionation describes processes that affect the relative abundance of isotopes, often used in isotope geochemistry. Normally, the focus is on stable isotopes of the same element. Isotopic fractionation in the natural environment can be measured by isotope analysis, using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, to separate different element isotopes on the basis of their mass-to-charge ratio, an important tool to understand natural systems. For example, in biochemistry processes cause a fluctuation in the amount of isotopes of carbon ratios incorporated into a biological being. The difference between the true amount of carbon and the amount in the plant is
Isotopes of fermium Isotopes of fermium Fermium (Fm) is a synthetic element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no stable isotopes. The first isotope to be discovered (in fallout from nuclear testing) was Fm in 1952. Fm was independently synthesized shortly after the discovery of Fm. There are 20 known radioisotopes ranging in atomic mass from Fm to Fm (Fm is unconfirmed), and 2 nuclear isomers, Fm and Fm. The longest-lived isotope is Fm with a half-life of 100.5 days, and the longest-lived isomer is Fm with a half-life of 1.8 seconds. Fm? was