Q&A for How to Find Average Atomic Mass

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  • Question
    How do you find weighted average mass if you don't have one of the amu?
    Meredith Juncker, PhD
    Scientific Researcher
    Meredith Juncker is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Her studies are focused on proteins and neurodegenerative diseases.
    Scientific Researcher
    Expert Answer
    An atomic mass unit is the same thing as grams per mole (1 amu = 1 g/mol). It is also the same thing as a dalton (1 amu = 1 Da). so if you don't know the amu for one of your elements, you can search for this particular isotope online to find the amu and natural abundance specific to that particular isotope.
  • Question
    What's the atomic weight of platinum?
    Meredith Juncker, PhD
    Scientific Researcher
    Meredith Juncker is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Her studies are focused on proteins and neurodegenerative diseases.
    Scientific Researcher
    Expert Answer
    The atomic weight of platinum is 195.078 amu. Check out "How to Calculate Atomic Mass" for more information.
  • Question
    Why do we need to know average atomic mass?
    Meredith Juncker, PhD
    Scientific Researcher
    Meredith Juncker is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Her studies are focused on proteins and neurodegenerative diseases.
    Scientific Researcher
    Expert Answer
    It's important to know average atomic mass because different isotopes of an element exist at different abundances on Earth, so different isotopes contribute to the average atomic mass at different proportions.
  • Question
    How do I find the atomic weight?
    Community Answer
    The atomic weight is just another term for the average atomic mass.
  • Question
    Can you give another example of average atomic mass?
    Community Answer
    Neon has three natural isotopes: 90.48% of Neon is Ne-20 with a mass of roughly 19.992 amu; 9.25% is Ne-22 with a mass of 21.991 amu; and 0.27% is Ne-21 with a mass of 20.993 amu. The average atomic mass of Neon is (19.992)(0.9048) + (21.991)(0.0925) + (20.993)(0.0027) = about 20.180 amu.
  • Question
    As the atomic number increases within a group of elements, the atomic radius usually does what?
    Top Answerer
    We can assume the atomic radius increases with the atomic number.
  • Question
    How can I find average mass of bromine?
    Top Answerer
    Go to socratic.org/chemistry, and search "atomic mass of bromine."
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