Isotopic abundance

Isotopic abundance refers to the proportion of different isotopes of an element that occur naturally in a sample. Isotopes are versions of an element with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons. For example, carbon has two main isotopes: carbon-12 and carbon-13. The abundance tells us how much of each isotope is present relative to the whole. For instance, about 98.9% of carbon atoms are carbon-12, and 1.1% are carbon-13. Understanding isotopic abundance helps in fields like chemistry, geology, and environmental science to analyze material origins, ages, or processes.