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11 grade chemistry others

Gallium has two naturally occurring isotopes. The mass of gallium-69 is 68.9256 amu and it is 60.108% abundant. The mass of gallium-71 is 70.9247 amu and it is 39.892% abundant. What is the atomic mass of gallium?

Profile image of Aniket Singh
1 Year agoGrade
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Profile image of Askiitians Tutor Team
1 Year ago

The atomic mass of an element is the weighted average of the masses of its isotopes, taking into account their abundances. In this case, gallium has two naturally occurring isotopes: gallium-69 and gallium-71.

Given the information provided:

Mass of gallium-69 (Ga-69) = 68.9256 amu

Abundance of Ga-69 = 60.108%

Mass of gallium-71 (Ga-71) = 70.9247 amu

Abundance of Ga-71 = 39.892%

To calculate the atomic mass of gallium (Ga), you can use the following formula:

Atomic mass of Ga = (Mass of Ga-69 * Abundance of Ga-69) + (Mass of Ga-71 * Abundance of Ga-71)

Plugging in the values:

Atomic mass of Ga = (68.9256 amu * 0.60108) + (70.9247 amu * 0.39892)
Atomic mass of Ga ≈ 41.4083 amu + 28.2935 amu ≈ 69.7018 amu

Therefore, the atomic mass of gallium is approximately 69.7018 atomic mass units (amu).