What is “heavy water”?
Heavy water is the common term for water which includes the deuterium isotope of hydrogen, 2H2O or D2O. Heavy water can refer to a quantity of water which contains any amount of deuterium, but often refers to water which has been enriched to contain at or near 100%. The deuterium in heavy water is much the same as normal hydrogen, which is also known as protium, except that it contains an extra neutron. So a deuterium atom contains one neutron, one proton, and one electron. The extra neutron adds a small amount of weight, about 10% of the total weight, to the atom, which is what makes it heavy. Heavy water is most known for its role in regulating the processes of nuclear reactors that don’t use enriched uranium. As nuclear reactors engage in fission, they release neutrons. These neutrons move incredibly quickly. In order to have a more controlled chain reaction with unenriched uranium, the neutrons need to be slowed down. So to do that, a regulator of some sort is used. Beryllium, grap
Heavy water, also called deuterium oxide (D2O), is composed of one oxygen atom and two deuterium atoms. (Atoms are the smallest units of matter.) Deuterium is a “heavy” form of hydrogen; it has one proton (positively charged particle) and one neutron (particle without a charge), compared to the one proton and zero neutrons that exists in the nucleus of a regular hydrogen atom. Heavy water has a molecular weight (the sum of the atomic weights of all atoms in a particle) of about 20, while ordinary water (H2O) has a molecular weight of about 18. Approximately one part heavy water can be found in 6,500 parts of ordinary water. Heavy water is used in thermonuclear weapons and nuclear reactors and as an isotopic tracer in studies of chemical and biochemical processes. Sources: Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology, p. 1001; The New Encyclopaedia…
Asked by: Adnan Strujic Answer Normal water is made of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom covalently bonded together. This gives the famous H20 formula. Heavy water has exactly the same structure, except the hydrogen atoms are isotopes of hydrogen called ‘Deuterium’. Standard hydrogen has one proton in its nucleus (Relative Molecular Mass = 1), deuterium has one proton AND one neutron in it nucleus, (RMM = 2) hence it is ‘heavier’ than normal hydrogen. This leads to the water being heavier. Mass of water = 18, mass of heavy water = 20.
