Definition:
Deuterium oxide, heavy water
Subject Area 1:
General
Remarks:
It is used a a tracer in the drilling operations.
Heavy water (D2O), also called deuterium oxide, water composed of deuterium, the hydrogen isotope with a mass double that of ordinary hydrogen, and oxygen. (Ordinary water has a composition represented by H2O.) Thus, heavy water has a molecular weight of about 20 (the sum of twice the atomic weight of deuterium, which is 2, plus the atomic weight of oxygen, which is 16), whereas ordinary water has a molecular weight of about 18 (twice the atomic weight of ordinary hydrogen, which is 1, plus oxygen, which is 16).