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Calculating Average Atomic Mass

The document provides information and examples for calculating average atomic mass given the relative abundances and atomic masses of isotopes that make up an element. It describes two methods - one that involves pretending there are 100 total atoms and calculating percentages of that, and one that directly converts percentages to decimals and multiplies each by the atomic mass. It then provides several practice problems to calculate average atomic masses for various elements like uranium, silicon, iron, magnesium, oxygen, carbon, and neon.

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Brenda Schroeder
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239 views4 pages

Calculating Average Atomic Mass

The document provides information and examples for calculating average atomic mass given the relative abundances and atomic masses of isotopes that make up an element. It describes two methods - one that involves pretending there are 100 total atoms and calculating percentages of that, and one that directly converts percentages to decimals and multiplies each by the atomic mass. It then provides several practice problems to calculate average atomic masses for various elements like uranium, silicon, iron, magnesium, oxygen, carbon, and neon.

Uploaded by

Brenda Schroeder
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name:_________________________________________________________________________________

Calculating Average Atomic Mass (Unit 2.8)


Helpful hints: Below are two methods for calculating average atomic mass. You can use the one that makes the most
sense to you when solving the problems below.

Example Problem: What is the average atomic mass of copper if a sample is 69.17% copper-63, which has an atomic
mass of 62.929598 amu, and 30.83% copper-65, which has an atomic mass of 64.927793 amu.

Method 1:
a) Pretend you have 100 atoms.
b) 69.17% of 100 atoms is 69.17 atoms of copper-63. Multiply the number of copper-63 atoms by the mass of
one copper-63 atom to find the total mass of copper-63 atoms.
c) Next, 30.83% of 100 atoms is 30.83 atoms of copper-65. Multiply the number of copper-65 atoms by the
mass of one copper-65 atom to find the total mass of copper-65 atoms.
d) Find total mass of all 100 atoms by adding what you got for b) and c).
e) Divide the total mass in d) by 100 atoms.

( 69.17 atoms ∙ 62.929598amu ) +(30.83 atoms ∙64.927793 amu)


=63.55 amu
100.00 atoms

Method 2:
a) Convert each of the percentages into a decimal by dividing by 100.
b) Multiply the decimal for each isotope by its mass.
c) Add the results from part b.

Note: This method is basically the same as the first except we just divide each term by 100 at the beginning.

( 0.6917 ∙ 62.929598 amu ) + ( 0.3083 ∙ 64.927793 amu )=63.55 amu

1. What is the average atomic mass of Uranium if it consists of 0.005% Uranium-234 which has a mass of 234.040947
amu, 0.720% Uranium-235 which has a mass of 235.043924 amu, and 99.275% Uranium-238 which has a mass of
238.050784 amu?
Name:_________________________________________________________________________________

Isotope name Isotope mass (amu) Relative Abundance

Silicon-28 27.98 92.21


2.
Silicon-29 28.98 4.70

Silicon-30 29.97 3.09


a) Look over
the data before you begin the problem. Estimate the value of the answer before you begin the calculation. Will
the weighted average be closer to 28, 29, or 30?

b) Now, find the average atomic mass of an atom of silicon.

3. Use the information below to calculate the average atomic mass of iron. Show your work.

Isotope name Isotope abundance Isotope mass (amu)

Iron-54 5.90% 53.94

Iron-56 91.72% 55.93

Iron-57 2.10% 56.94

Iron-58 0.280% 57.93

4. Use the information to below to calculate the average atomic mass of magnesium. Show your work.
Name:_________________________________________________________________________________

5. Use the information below to calculate the average atomic mass of oxygen. Show your work.

6. Use the information below to calculate the average atomic mass of carbon. Show your work.

7. Find the average atomic mass of neon, given the atomic masses and relative abundance of its three isotopes. Show
your work.
Name:_________________________________________________________________________________

Neon Isotope Atomic Mass (amu) Relative abundance


Ne-20 19.992 90.48%
Ne-21 20.993 0.27%
Ne-22 21.991 9.25%

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