Isotopes

Isotopes
Atomsof the same element with the
same number of protons but differing
number of neutrons.

E.g.
Carbon-12 has 6 neutrons, Carbon-
14 has 8 neutrons
Physical and chemical
properties
Isotopes
of an element have the same
atomic number (Z)
Therefore they have the same chemical
properties
Isotopeshave different masses and
therefore have different physical
properties
Mixtures of isotopes
A sample of any element will contain a
mixture of all the isotopes of that
element in the relative abundances that
the isotopes are found naturally

E.g.
A sample of Ga will have 60% of the
atoms with a mass of 69 and 40% with a
mass of 71
Relative atomic mass
TheRAM found on the periodic table for
each element is an average of isotopic
masses that make up that element

E.g.
Cl mass = 35.45 is calculated from
75% Cl 35 and 25% Chlorine 37
Calculating R.A.M
Ifyou know all the masses and their
abundance of all the isotopes of an
element, you can calculate the R.A.M

E.g.B-10 =19.9% B-11 = 80.1%

R.A.M. = (19.9/100 x 10) + (80.1/100 x
11)
= 10.8 g/mol
Calculating abundance
Abundance can be calculated given
R.A.M. and the masses of all isotopes.
Cl-35 and Cl-37 have a R.A.M. of 35.45
Let Cl-35 abundance = x. Let Cl-37
abundance = 100-x
Sub into equation: