Isotope …, "m" are the atomic masses of each individual isotope, and "x", …, "x" are the relative abundances of these isotopes. Several applications exist that capitalize on properties of the various isotopes of a given element. Isotope separation is a significant technological challenge, particularly with heavy elements such as uranium or plutonium. Lighter elements such as lithium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are commonly separated by gas diffusion of their compounds such as CO and NO. The separation of hydrogen and deuterium is unusual because it is based on chemical rather than physical properties, for example in the Girdler sulfide process.
Relative atomic mass Relative atomic mass Relative atomic mass (symbol: "A") or atomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a given sample to one unified atomic mass unit. The unified atomic mass unit (symbol: "u" or "Da") is defined as being of the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom. Since both values in the ratio are expressed in the same unit ("u"), the resulting value is dimensionless; hence the value is said to be "relative". For a single given sample, the relative atomic mass of a given element