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How do the decimal places on the atomic masses of elements realate to isotopes?
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago
The Atomic Mass of an element is the weighted average of masses of the isotopes of the element, weighted in proportion to their abundance.
Wiki User
∙ 6y ago
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Atomic mass used in a sentence?
The atomic mass of an element is the weighted average of the masses of all the stable isotopes of the element (if it has any), weighted by the natural occurrence levels of the isotopes in the elements as found on earth or in the atmosphere.
Can the atomic mass of an element change?
For elements with multiple natural isotopes the precise atomic mass could vary from place to place. Depending on the ratio of those isotopes. Living systems are a natural way isotopic concentration change in some elements. Lighter isotopes react faster and living systems will tend to concentrate them. Extraterrestrial sources of elements could have significantly different isotopic composition than Earth's. Nuclear decay could change some isotopes to different elements. Thus changing the isotopic ratios.
Why is the atomic mass of an atom the average atomic mass?
It allows for the relative abundances of different isotopes.
Do isotopes have the same atomic mass?
Nope, their chemical make up changes, changing the total atomic mass.
The average atomic mass of an element is the average of the atomic masses of its?
The average atomic mass of an element is the average of the atomic masses of its isotopes (that is a weighted average). You have to take into account the abundance of each isotope when they do your averaging.
Is the reason that an element's average atomic mas is often a decimal number stems from the fact that elements have isotopes?
Yes, the reason that an element's average atomic mass is often a decimal number is the fact that most elements have more than one isotope stable against radioactive decay and that these isotopes, each of which individually has an integral mass number, occur naturally in amounts that do not lead to integral average gram atomic masses.
What is the average mass of the mixture of an elements isotopes?
All of the isotopes in an element's atomic masses divided by the amount of isotopes there are is the weighted-average mass of the mixture of an elements isotopes.
What does the decimal tell you in an atomic mass?
that there are stable isotopes of that element
Why elements don't have whole numbers?
do you mean the why is the average atomic mass not a whole number? because if that is your question, then the answer is that each element has multipal isotopes and the mass you see on the periodic table is the average of all the isotopes together. So there has to be a decimal on the periodic table of elements
What is the average of the mass numbers of an elements isotopes?
the Atomic Mass
Is the atomic mass used for the mass of an element which has isotopes?
Yes, atomic mass takes into account the presence of isotopes of an element. It is a weighted average mass of all naturally occurring isotopes based on their abundance.
Why isn't the atomic mass of most of the elements on the periodic table an integer and not a decimal?
The atomic mass of an element is not always an integer because it considers the average mass of all isotopes of that element, taking into account their abundance. Since isotopes have different masses, the weighted average can result in a non-integer value. Additionally, the presence of isotopes with different masses means that the atomic mass is a weighted average influenced by the abundance of each isotope.
Do copper isotopes have a whole atomic mass?
The isotopes of copper have the relative atomic masses of 63 and 65 and these are approximations. The exact values contain decimal figures.
What is the value that depends on the distribution of the elements isotopes in nature and the masses of those isotopes?
This value is the atomic weight.
How scovery of isotopes explain why atomic wieghts do not always give the correct order of elements?
This is due to the fact that all elements have isotopes, meaning that there atomic weight is in fact much greater than stated in the periodic table. This means that the elements are only weighed by their compound and not including the isotopes.
Is there a difference between mass and atomic mass when dealing with elements?
Generally the term "atomic mass" is used for isotopes. For elements is preferred now "atomic weight".
Why the mass number of the same atom of an element is not constant?
Since you have isotopes of elements. Isotopes are elements with different number of neutrons hence why the different atomic masses for the same elements.
