Why bother? Carbon 13 is a little heavier than normal Carbon 12, but is chemically identical.
Carbon 13 is stable, so there is no nuclear decay to be considered.
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Isotopes are used.
The course of a reaction can be traced using a radioactive isotope. It must have a short half-life and be able to be quickly eliminated from the body. A stable isotope will not decay and therefore will be much harder to trace in a reaction. Think about it, if nothing is changing, it is harder to see in a reaction.
The chemical symbol of uranium is U.
The radioactive isotope is disintegrated in time and emit radiations.
The process in which one isotope changes to another isotope is called radioactive decay. During this process, the unstable nucleus of an isotope emits radiation in the form of alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays to transform into a more stable isotope. The rate at which radioactive decay occurs is measured by the isotope's half-life.