The question deals with calculating the average atomic mass of isotopes, which entails multiplying each isotope's mass by its decimal abundance and summing these products to find the weighted average mass for the element.
The question pertains to the calculation of the average atomic mass of isotopes based on their mass and relative abundances. The average atomic mass of an element is a weighted average calculated by multiplying the atomic mass of each isotope by its abundance and then summing these products.
A step-by-step explanation would involve converting the percentage abundances into decimal form, then multiplying each isotope's mass by its abundance fraction, and finally adding these values together to determine the weighted average atomic mass for the element. Isotopes are different forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, which results in different mass numbers.
For example, for chlorine, which has two main isotopes, chlorine-35 with an atomic mass of 34.969 amu and an abundance of 75.77%, and chlorine-37 with a mass of 36.966 amu and an abundance of 24.23%, the average atomic mass can be calculated as follows:
- Convert percentages to fractions: 75.77% -> 0.7577 and 24.23% -> 0.2423
- Multiply the fractions by their respective isotopic masses, resulting in: (0.7577 × 34.969 amu) + (0.2423 × 36.966 amu)
- Sum the products to get the average atomic mass of chlorine.