Question

n the periodic table, the atomic mass of oxygen is listed as 15.9994 amu. Based on this, one can deduce that the most common ____________ of oxygen contains a total number of protons plus neutrons equalling _______.

Answer 1

Isotope- variation of an element

Sixteen- atomic number of oxygen

Answer 2

Answer:- Isotope for the first blank and sixteen for second blank.

Explanations:- The sum of protons and neutrons makes the mass number of the element. Since atomic mass is the average of isotopes of the element, it is not a whole number but the mass number is a whole number as it is the sum of number of protons and neutrons.

15.9994 is almost 16 means the mass number for the most common isotope of oxygen is 16.