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krypton-85
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krypton-85

isotope
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Krypton-85 (Kr-85) is a radioactive isotope of krypton, a noble gas. Krypton is a colorless, odorless gas found in Earth's atmosphere. Natural krypton is a mixture of six stable isotopes, but krypton-85 is produced by nuclear reactions, such as the fission of uranium.1

Krypton-85 has a half-life of 10.7 years and is useful for detecting leaks in sealed containers because its radiation can be detected. While other radioactive krypton isotopes have very short half-lives, Kr-85 persists long enough to be a practical tool. Resonance-ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) can be used to detect specific isotopes of noble gases like krypton-81, which has a much longer half-life and is used for dating ice cores and groundwater.12

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4 Britannica Sources
  1. krypton
  2. isotope - Radioactive isotopes
  3. spectroscopy - Noble gas detection
  4. Kr

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