ELEM ENT S AND CO M PO UNDS

1Carbon-12
G To compare the massesof di fferent
atomsaccurately, sci enti stsneed a
standard massagai nst whi ch all other
massescan be calculated. Massesare
gi ven relati ve to thi sstandard.
G The isotopecarbon-12 i sused asthe
standard. O n thi sscale, atomsof
carbon-12 are gi ven a massof exactly
12. The atomic massesof all other
atomsare gi ven relati ve to thi s
standard.
G I f an element contai ned only one
i sotope, i tsatomi c masswould be the
relati ve massof that i sotope. However,
most elementscontai n a mi xture of
several i sotopesi n varyi ng
proporti ons.
G Natural abundance gi vesthe
proporti on of each i sotope i n a sample
of the element.
G I f more than one i sotope of an
element i spresent, the atomi c massi s
calculated by taki ng an average that
takesi nto account the relati ve
proporti on of each i sotope. Di agrams
2 and 3 i llustrate how the atomi c mass
of common i sotopesof li thi um and
chlori ne would be calculated.
2 Lithium
G There are two common i sotopesof
li thi um: li thi um-6 and li thi um-7.
G The atomi c massof li thi um i s6.925,
but for most calculatesa value of 7 i s
suffi ci ently accurate.
3 Chlorine
G There are also two common i sotopes
of chlori ne: chlori ne-35 and chlori ne-
37.
G The atomi c massof chlori ne i s
35.4846, but for most calculati onsa
value of 35.5 i ssuffi ci ently accurate.
G Roundi ng the atomi c massof chlori ne
to the nearest whole number would
lead to si gni fi cant errorsi n
calculati ons.
Atomic mass
atomic mass
isotope
Key words
35

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T h e re la ti ve a to m i c m a ss o f li th i u m i s g i ve n b y :
6 7. 5 ) + 7 9 2 . 5 )
= 6 .9 2 5

1 0 0
T h e re la ti ve a to m i c m a ss o f li th i u m i s g i ve n b y :
3 5 7 5 .7 7 ) + 3 7 2 4 . 2 3 )
= 3 5 . 4 8 4 6

1 0 0
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1Carbon-12
Isotope Natural abundance
L i th i u m -6
L i th i u m -7 9 2 . 5 %
7 . 5 %
2 Lithium
Isotope Natural abundance
C h lo ri n e -3 5
C h lo ri n e -3 7 2 4 . 2 3 %
7 5 . 7 7 %
3 Chlorine
L i )
6
3
L i )
7
3
C l)
3 5
1 7
C l)
3 7
1 7
C )
1 2
6