Preferred Label : tracer;
IUPAC definition : A foreign substance mixed with or attached to a given substance to enable the distribution
or location of the latter to be determined subsequently. There are several types of
tracers which are used: (i) A physical tracer is one that is attached by physical
means to the object being traced; (ii) A chemical tracer is a chemical with properties
similar to those of the substance being traced with which it is mixed homogeneously;
(iii) An isotopic tracer is a unique isotope, either radioactive or an enriched, uncommon
stable isotope, of the element to be traced; (iv) A radioactive tracer is a physical
or chemical tracer having radioactivity as its distinctive property which allows detection
at small concentrations and hence after large transport distances. The composition
of aerosols in the troposphere has been used as a qualitative tracer of air masses.
The elemental analyses (determined by neutron activation, X-ray fluorescence, etc.)
of the aerosols transported from various sources or source regions sometimes have
characteristic patterns which are used to define qualitatively the origin of tropospheric
aerosols collected in other geographical regions.;
Origin ID : T06422;
UMLS CUI : C1522485;
Automatic exact mappings (from CISMeF team)
False automatic mappings
See also
Semantic type(s)
UMLS correspondences (same concept)
A foreign substance mixed with or attached to a given substance to enable the distribution
or location of the latter to be determined subsequently. There are several types of
tracers which are used: (i) A physical tracer is one that is attached by physical
means to the object being traced; (ii) A chemical tracer is a chemical with properties
similar to those of the substance being traced with which it is mixed homogeneously;
(iii) An isotopic tracer is a unique isotope, either radioactive or an enriched, uncommon
stable isotope, of the element to be traced; (iv) A radioactive tracer is a physical
or chemical tracer having radioactivity as its distinctive property which allows detection
at small concentrations and hence after large transport distances. The composition
of aerosols in the troposphere has been used as a qualitative tracer of air masses.
The elemental analyses (determined by neutron activation, X-ray fluorescence, etc.)
of the aerosols transported from various sources or source regions sometimes have
characteristic patterns which are used to define qualitatively the origin of tropospheric
aerosols collected in other geographical regions.