A fictional element has two isotopes and an atomic mass of 87.08 amu. if the first isotope is 86 amu and the second isotope has a mass of 90 amu. which isotope has the greatest natural abundance?

Question

Conner Best

Chemistry

2 June, 13:50

A fictional element has two isotopes and an atomic mass of 87.08 amu. if the first isotope is 86 amu and the second isotope has a mass of 90 amu. which isotope has the greatest natural abundance?

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Answers (1)

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Carly Roberson · Answer 1

The atomic mass of a certain element is summation of the product of the decimal equivalent of the percentage abundance and the given atomic mass of each of the isotope. If we let x be the percentage abundance of the 86 amu-isotope then, the second one is 1-x such that,

x (86) + (1 - x) (90) = 87.08

The value of x from the equation is 0.73. This value is already greater than 0.5. Thus, the isotope with greatest abundance is that which is 86 amu.