chemistry

Isotopes of thulium

Isotopes of thulium is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Isotopes of thulium rather than just read about it. In short: Naturally occurring thulium (69Tm) is composed of one stable isotope, 169Tm, with 100% natural abundance. Thirty-nine radioisotopes have been characterized from 144Tm to 183Tm; with the most stable are 171Tm with a half-life of 1.92 years, 170Tm with a half-life of 128.6 days, 168Tm with a half-life of 93.1 days, and 167Tm with a half-life of 9.25 days.

Key takeaways

Isotopes of thulium belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Isotopes of thulium to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Isotopes of thulium from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Naturally occurring thulium (69Tm) is composed of one stable isotope, 169Tm, with 100% natural abundance. Thirty-nine radioisotopes have been characterized from 144Tm to 183Tm; with the most stable are 171Tm with a half-life of 1.92 years, 170Tm with a half-life of 128.6 days, 168Tm with a half-life of 93.1 days, and 167Tm with a half-life of 9.25 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 3 days, with the majority less than 10 minutes. This element also has 26 meta states, with the longest half-lives being 164mTm (5.1 minutes), 160m1Tm (75 seconds) and 155mTm (45 seconds). The primary decay mode before the stable isotope, 169Tm, is electron capture to erbium isotopes, and the primary mode after is beta emission to ytterbium isotopes. All isotopes of thulium are either radioactive or, in the case of 169Tm, observationally stable, meaning that 169Tm is predicted to be radioactive but decay has not been observed.

List of isotopes

Thulium-170

Thulium-170 has a half-life of 128.6 days, decaying by β− decay about 99.87% of the time and electron capture the remaining 0.13% of the time. Due to its low-energy X-ray emissions, it has been proposed for radiotherapy and as a source in a radiothermal generator.

See also Daughter products other than thulium

Isotopes of ytterbium Isotopes of erbium Isotopes of holmium

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Isotopes of thulium

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Isotopes of thulium claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Isotopes of thulium before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Isotopes of thulium ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Isotopes of thulium

In research: Isotopes of thulium appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Isotopes of thulium in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Isotopes of thulium is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Isotopes of thulium, Lists of isotopes by element, Thulium, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Isotopes of thulium outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Isotopes of thulium in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Isotopes of thulium means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Isotopes of thulium out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Isotopes of thulium in simple terms?

Why does Isotopes of thulium matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Isotopes of thulium?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Isotopes of thulium.