There are three isotopes of silicon. They have mass numbers of 28, 29 and 30. The average atomic mass of silicon is 28.086amu. What does this say about the relative abundances of the three isotopes?
1 Answer
Dec 2, 2014
This means that the isotope of silicon with a mass number of 28 is by far the most common of these three isotopes.
Explanation:
The abundance of Si-28 is 92.23%. Si-29 is 4.68% and Si-30 is 3.09%.
Because most Si atoms have a mass of 28 amu, the average mass of all silicon atoms is very close to 28.
Here is a video which summarizes how to calculate average atomic mass from data about mass and relative abundance.
Video from: Noel Pauller
Hope this helps!
