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CaptainEvil
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Homework Statement
Calculate and tabulate the fractions of the total mass of the Earth which would be
accounted for by O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca and Fe under the following hypothese.
i) All the elements above are fully oxidized, except that no S is accreted and the
Fe is entirely metallic (that is, brings no O with it)
you may neglect H, He, C, N, Ne, Ar and unbound oxygen (which do not
condense at the temperatures in question) and all elements less abundant than sodium. In
your answer, please tabulate the mass fractions of each elements (including O), not the
mass fractions of the oxides. You may assume the relevant oxides are Na2O, MgO, Al2O3,
SiO2, and CaO.
Homework Equations
There is a table that has abundances of elemental atoms (per 1000 Si atoms)
Na 60
O 19000
Fe 890
Mg 1070
Al 83
Si 1000 (obviously)
Ca 65
the table as relevant molar masses as well
The Attempt at a Solution
What I did was assume that:
mass of (Na2O + MgO + Al2O3 + SiO2 + CaO + Fe) = Mearth
since all the abundances are given per Si atoms, I want to put everything in terms of per Si atom. I started with the lone Fe, and calculated that 1 Si atom -> 0.89 Fe atoms -> 1.48e-24mol -> 8.26e-23 g/Si atom. Good, done
but now is where the chemistry comes in -> how do I do this same process for the oxides like CaO and Al2O3. Someone please help