Talk:Carbon-13

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Article too narrowly focused[edit]

I came to this article after reading the following Space.com article about how scientists are using carbon-13 to deduce the origins of life of Earth:

  • Goudarzi, Sara (2006-11-27). "Galactic Baby Boom Influenced Life on Earth". SPACE.com. Retrieved 2006-11-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

I wanted to understand how biochemical reactions can distinguish between carbon-13 and other isotopes. But the current material here reads less like an encyclopedia article than an excerpt from a nuclear physics text. Can someone with more domain knowledge than I (on the whole subject of carbon-13, not just how to detect it) broaden this article to incorporate aspects of more general interest, like those that might answer my question? Thank you for any assistance. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 17:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See Isotope fractionation Jclerman 18:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Jeff Q is right, chemical and biochemical reactions should NEVER distinguish isotopes. But in fact enzymes distinguish them. I added this information and moved most of biological part of this article to Isotopic_signature#Carbon_isotopes in order to avoid duplication of material. Ivan Kucherenko (talk) 20:33, 11 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Chemical reactions do distinguish isotopes (the kinetic isotope effect) see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_isotope_effect — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.133.13.170 (talk) 13:52, 7 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No mention of hyperpolarized carbon-13[edit]

No mention of hyperpolarized carbon-13 as used in Hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI; and see "Imaging breast cancer using hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI" - Rod57 (talk) 14:21, 26 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Natural abundance[edit]

Does anyone know from where the natural abundance figure is derived? it differs from the Wikipedia page on isotopes of carbon, which gives 1.07%, a value also found in primary literature, and used by mass spec manufacturers. 79.64.116.99 (talk) 22:03, 17 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]