How do you find the average atomic mass?

Answer 1

You should be given the isotope and the percent abundance when calculating the average atomic mass of an element, for example (X is a made up element).

#X-45# = 44.8776 amu is 32.88% abundant. #X-47# = 49.9443 amu is 67.12% abundant.

Note: The acronym for atomic mass unit is amu.

You multiply the amu by the percent abundance using that information.

#.3288(44.8776) = 14.75575# #.6712(46.9443) = 33.52261#

The average atomic mass is then calculated by adding the two numbers.

#14.75575+33.52261 = 48.27836#

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Answer 2

Noah Aldrich

An element's average atomic mass is determined by multiplying each isotope's mass by its natural abundance (expressed as a decimal), adding up all of the isotopes' masses.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.