Question

Carbon has three isotopes: carbon-12, carbon 13, and carbon-14. If the average atomic mass on the

periodic table for carbon is 12.011 amu, which isotope is most abundant? Explain your answer using a complete sentence.

Answer 1

The most abundant carbon isotope is carbon-12

Step-by-step explanation:

The relative atomic mass of carbon is 12.011, which is extremely close to 12.0. This means that the masses C-13, and C-14 are practically negligible when contributing to the relative atomic mass of carbon.

In fact, the C-12 isotope makes up 98.9% of carbon atoms, C-13 makes up 1.1% of carbon atoms, and C-14 makes up just a trace of carbon atoms as they are found in nature.