This implies that, per year, approximately 5.5% of a given sample of tritium will decay. While tritium has several slightly different experimentally determined values of its half-life, the National Institute of Standards and Technology lists 4,500 ± 8 days ( 12.32 ± 0.02 years). Willard Libby recognized in 1954 that tritium could be used for radiometric dating of water and wine. Their experiment could not isolate tritium, which was first accomplished in 1939 by Luis Alvarez and Robert Cornog, who also realized tritium's radioactivity. Deuterium is another isotope of hydrogen, which occurs naturally with an abundance of 0.015%. Tritium was first detected in 1934 by Ernest Rutherford, Mark Oliphant and Paul Harteck after bombarding deuterium with deuterons (a proton and neutron, comprising a deuterium nucleus). Tritium is also used as a nuclear fusion fuel, along with more abundant deuterium, in tokamak reactors and in hydrogen bombs. It is used in a medical and scientific setting as a radioactive tracer. Tritium is used as the energy source in radioluminescent lights for watches, gun sights, numerous instruments and tools, and even novelty items such as self-illuminating key chains. It can be produced artificially by irradiation of lithium metal or lithium-bearing ceramic pebbles in a nuclear reactor and is a low-abundance byproduct in normal operations of nuclear reactors. The atmosphere has only trace amounts, formed by the interaction of its gases with cosmic rays. Naturally occurring tritium is extremely rare on Earth. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a triton) contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the common isotope hydrogen-1 ( protium) contains one proton and zero neutrons, and that of hydrogen-2 ( deuterium) contains one proton and one neutron. Tritium (from Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos) 'third') or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or 3H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of about 12 years.
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