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Concept
Mass-independent fractionation
Summary
Mass-independent isotope fractionation or Non-mass-dependent fractionation (NMD), refers to any chemical or physical process that acts to separate isotopes, where the amount of separation does not scale in proportion with the difference in the masses of the isotopes. Most isotopic fractionations (including typical kinetic fractionations and equilibrium fractionations) are caused by the effects of the mass of an isotope on atomic or molecular velocities, diffusivities or bond strengths. Mass-independent fractionation processes are less common, occurring mainly in photochemical and spin-forbidden reactions. Observation of mass-independently fractionated materials can therefore be used to trace these types of reactions in nature and in laboratory experiments.
The most notable examples of mass-independent fractionation in nature are found in the isotopes of oxygen and sulfur. The first example was discovered by Robert N. Clayton, Toshiko Mayeda, and Lawrence Grossman in 1973, in the oxygen isotopic composition of refractory calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions in the Allende meteorite. The inclusions, thought to be among the oldest solid materials in the Solar System, show a pattern of low 18O/16O and 17O/16O relative to samples from the Earth and Moon. Both ratios vary by the same amount in the inclusions, although the mass difference between 18O and 16O is almost twice as large as the difference between 17O and 16O. Originally this was interpreted as evidence of incomplete mixing of 16O-rich material (created and distributed by a large star in a supernova) into the Solar nebula. However, recent measurement of the oxygen-isotope composition of the Solar wind, using samples collected by the Genesis spacecraft, shows that the most 16O-rich inclusions are close to the bulk composition of the solar system. This implies that Earth, the Moon, Mars, and asteroids all formed from 18O- and 17O-enriched material. Photodissociation of carbon monoxide in the Solar nebula has been proposed to explain this isotope fractionation.
Official source
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