Question

How many cu atoms are present in a piece of sterlingsilver jewelry weighing 33.24 g ? (sterling silver is a silver–copper alloy containing 92.5% ag by mass.)?

Answer 1

The mass of piece of sterling silver jewelry is 33.24 g. It contains 92.5% silver Ag by mass. Since, sterling silver is an alloy of Ag-Cu thus, percentage of Cu will be:

% Cu=100-92.5=7.5%

Thus, mass of copper will be:

$m_{Cu}=\frac{7.5}{100}\times 33.24 g=2.493 g$

Molar mass of Cu is 63.546 g/mol, thus, number of moles of Cu can be calculated as follows:

$n=\frac{m}{M}$

Here, m is mass and M is molar mass.

Putting the values,

$n=\frac{2.493 g}{63.546 g/mol}=0.03923 mol$

Now, in 1 mole of Cu there are $6.303\times 10^{23}atoms$ thus, in 0.03923 mol, number of Cu atoms will be:

$0.03923 mol\times 6.303\times 10^{23}atoms=2.363\times 10^{22} atoms$

Thus, number of atoms of Cu will be$2.363\times 10^{22} atoms$.