Average Atomic Mass
The weighted average of the masses of all the naturally
occurring isotopes of an element.
Calculating Average Atomic Mass
Copper-63 accounts for 69% of the copper found naturally.
Copper-65 accounts for 31% of the copper found naturally.
What is the average atomic mass of copper?
63 x 0.69=43.47 amu
65 x 0.31=20.15 amu
43.47 + 20.15= 63.62 amu
Steps for Calculating Average Atomic Mass
1st Change the percent to a decimal (move the decimal two places to the left).
2nd Multiply the mass number of the isotope by the percent. Do this for each isotope of the element.
3rd Find the sum of (add) the products.
4th Put units on your answer (amu).
You Try It
1. Chlorine-35 makes up 76% of all the chlorine in nature, and Chlorine-37 makes up the other 24%. What is the average atomic mass of chlorine?
2. Calculate the atomic mass of boron, which occurs naturally as 20% boron-10 and 80% boron-11.
3. Titanium has 5 isotopes they aretitanium-46 (8%)titanium-47 (7.3%)titanium-48 (73.8%)titanium-49 (5.5%)titanium-50 (5.4%)