Using the three different isotopes of oxygen ¹⁶O,¹⁷O,¹⁸O and the major isotope of hydrogen,¹H.Determine the number of different types of isotopically substituted hydrogen peroxide,H₂O₂,that could be formed. A)3 B)5 C)6 D)9

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Isotopically substituted hydrogen peroxide molecules can be formed by replacing one or both hydrogen atoms with one of the three oxygen isotopes (16O, 17O, or 18O). Since there is only one major isotope of hydrogen (1H), there are three possible isotopic substitutions for each hydrogen atom in H2O2. Thus, there are 3 × 3 = 9 possible isotopically substituted hydrogen peroxide molecules in total. However, since the two hydrogen atoms in H2O2 are identical, some of these molecules will be chemically identical to each other. Specifically, exchanging two hydrogen atoms with the same isotope will result in the same molecule, regardless of which two hydrogens are exchanged. This means that there are actually only six chemically distinct isotopically substituted hydrogen peroxide molecules.

Using the Three Different Isotopes of Oxygen 16O,17O,18O and the Major

Using the Three Different Isotopes of Oxygen ¹⁶O,¹⁷O,¹⁸O and the Major