Question

There are two isotopes of an unknown element, X-19 and X-21. The abundance of X-19 is 14.55%. A weighted average uses the percentages of each isotope to scale their contribution to the total mass. Each isotope's contribution is the percentage (in decimal form) multiplied by the mass of the isotope. What is the contribution (in amu) to the weighted average from the X-19 isotope, which has a mass of 19.00 amu

Answer 1

Answer:

2.765amu is the contribution of the X-19 isotope to the weighted average

Explanation:

The average molar mass is defined as the sum of the molar mass of each isotope times its abundance. For the unknown element X that has 2 isotopes the weighted average is defined as:

X = Mass X-19 * Abundance X-19 + MassX-21 * Abundance X-21

The contribution of the X-19 isotope is its mass (19.00 amu) times its abundance (14.55% = 0.1455). That is:

19.00amu * 0.1455 =

2.765amu is the contribution of the X-19 isotope to the weighted average