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.
Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights the international standard for decades to come. Nevertheless, when the Commission joined the IUPAC in 1920, it was asked to revert to the H=1 scale, which it rejected. With the discovery of oxygen isotopes in 1929, a situation arose where chemists based their calculations on the average atomic mass (atomic weight) of oxygen whereas physicists used the mass of the predominant isotope of oxygen, oxygen-16. This discrepancy became undesired and a unification between the chemistry and physics was necessary. In the 1957 Paris meeting the Commission put forward a proposal for a carbon-12 scale. The carbon-12 scale for atomic weights