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deuterium oxide

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.

heavy water

 or deuterium oxide

Water composed of two atoms of deuterium (D; a heavy isotope of hydrogen) and one atom of oxygen (O), chemical formula D2O. Water from most natural sources contains about 0.015% deuterium oxide; this can be enriched or purified by distillation, electrolysis, or chemical processing. Heavy water is used as a moderator in nuclear power plants, slowing down the fast neutrons so that they can react with the fuel in the reactor. Heavy water is also used in research as an isotopic tracer for chemical reactions and biochemical pathways. Water with tritium (T2O) rather than deuterium may also be called heavy water.


deuterium oxide [dü′tir·ē·əm ′äk‚sīd]
(inorganic chemistry)


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In their experiments, Pons and Fleischmann pass an electrical current between palladium and platinum electrodes immersed in a flask containing lithium ions dissolved in deuterium oxide -- a heavy version of water made of oxygen and the hydrogen isotope deuterium.
Deuterium oxide is thus two atomic mass units heavier than hydrogen oxide.
Moreover, where deuterium oxide dilution requires drawing blood and underwater weighing requires immersion in a calibrated pool, the infrared technique can be completed in three minutes and may ultimately require no more than the rolling up of one's sleeve.
 
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