Question

The average mass of all fluorine (F) atoms is 18.998 u.Do you think most fluorine atoms have 9 neutrons or 10 neutrons? Explain. ​

Answer 1

Most fluorine atoms are likely to have 10 neutrons.

Step-by-step explanation:

Fluorine (F) has an atomic number of 9 and a mass number of 19. The mass number of an atom is the sum of the protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Since the average mass of all fluorine atoms is given as 18.998 u, it is likely that most fluorine atoms have a slightly higher mass than 18 u. Therefore, most fluorine atoms are likely to have 10 neutrons.

Answer 2

10 neutrons

Step-by-step explanation:

The mass of is made up of the total protons and neutrons in an atom.

Each particle has a mass of 1 amu (atomic mass unit).

All fluorine atoms have 9 protons.

If each proton is 1 amu, the protons must contribute 9 amu to the total mass of the atom (9 x 1 amu = 9 amu).

This means the neutrons must contribute a total mass of 10 amu (18.998 amu - 9 amu = ~10 amu).

If each neutron has a mass of 1 amu, there must be 10 neutrons in a fluorine atom (10 amu / 1 amu = 10 amu).