Question

The amount of meat in prehistoric diets can be determined by measuring the ratio of the isotopes nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14 in bone from human remains. Carnivores concentrate 15N, so this ratio tells archaeologists how much meat was consumed by ancient people. Suppose you use a velocity selector (Figure 1) to obtain singly ionized (missing one electron) atoms of speed 513km/s and want to bend them within a uniform magnetic field of 0.510T. The measured masses of these isotopes are 2.35×10?26kg (14N) and 2.45×10?26kg (15N).

Part A

Find the separation of the 14N and 15N isotopes at the detector.

Express your answer with the appropriate units.

Answer 1

The ions are separated by the differences in the diameters of their paths.

Therefore, D= 0.0126 m = 1.26cm