Rubidium has two naturally occurring isotopes, Rb-85 with a mass of 84.91179 amu and Rb-87 with a mass of 86.90918 amu. Calculate the atomic weight of rubidium. Why do the two isotopes of rubidium have different masses?
Added by Claudia B.
Step 1
We can use the following formula: Atomic weight = (abundance of isotope 1 x mass of isotope 1) + (abundance of isotope 2 x mass of isotope 2) Plugging in the values given in the question, we get: Atomic weight = (0.2783 x 72.179) + (0.7217 x 86.909) = 84.911 Show more…
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Rubidium has two naturally occurring isotopes, rubidium-85 (atomic mass $=84.9118$ amu; abundance $=72.15 \%$ ) and rubidium-87 (atomic mass = 86.9092 amu; abundance = 27.85$\%$ ). Calculate the atomic weight of rubidium.
Anthony H.
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