Notes
The term ‘atomic weight’ is kept for historical reasons (see page 96 in [15]).
A new illustrative periodic table of the isotopes has been issued by the IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (see http://www.ciaaw.org).
A complete list of references to these tables can be found at http://www.ciaaw.org.
VSMOW is an acronym of ‘Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water’. However, it designates a particular larger sample of ocean water, kept at the IAEA in Vienna, from where aliquots in glass ampoules can be obtained.
Following agreement within the IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights, we apply the stable-isotope terminology guidelines compiled by Coplen [10].
VPDB stands for ‘Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite’. Corresponding reference materials are available from the IAEA in Vienna.
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Acknowledgments
This article has benefited from discussions with Michael Rothe and Peter Sperlich, both at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena. I am indebted to Klaus Heumann for a number of valuable suggestions and for his patience and encouragement. Two anonymous reviewers made valuable suggestions which helped to improve the readability and language.
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Published in the topical collection Isotope Ratio Measurements: New Developments and Applications with guest editors Klaus G. Heumann and Torsten C. Schmidt.
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Brand, W.A. Atomic weights: not so constant after all. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 2755–2761 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6608-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-012-6608-0