How Do Sulfur Isotopes Determine Its Average Atomic Mass?

AI Thread Summary
Sulfur has four naturally occurring isotopes with varying abundances: Sulfur-32 (95.0%), Sulfur-33 (0.76%), Sulfur-34 (4.22%), and Sulfur-36 (0.014%). To calculate sulfur's average atomic mass, the formula involves multiplying the mass of each isotope by its abundance, summing these products, and dividing by 100. The calculation starts with (32.06 x 0.95) for Sulfur-32, followed by similar calculations for the other isotopes. The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding how to apply the formula correctly to determine the average atomic mass. Accurate knowledge of isotopes and their abundances is essential for this calculation.
ReoFonzo
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Homework Statement



Sulfur has 4 naturally occurring isotopes:

Sulfur-32 Abundance = 95.0%
Sulfur-33 Abundance = 0.76%
Sulfur-34 Abundance = 4.22%
Sulfur-36 Abundance = 0.014%

Sulfur's symbol is S, it has 16 electrons and a mass of 32.06g

Homework Equations


I'm actually looking for the actual formula which I lost.


The Attempt at a Solution


Sulfur's Isotopes divided by its abundance...
 
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What's the actual question here? What formula are you looking for?
 
Last edited:
how do i find calculate the average atomic mass for sulfur?
 
Well, would you not take the sum of (mass of isotope*abundance of isotope) then divide the sum by 100?
 
m = mass of specified isotope
a = abundance of specified isotope as a part of 1.00 (100%

(m-32 x a-32) + (m-33 x a-33)... etc.

so (32.06 x .95) for sulfur-32 and so on
 
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