{"id":38809,"date":"2025-06-26T13:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T13:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=38809"},"modified":"2025-06-26T13:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T13:13:12","slug":"an-element-consists-of-3-isotopes-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/an-element-consists-of-3-isotopes-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"An element consists of 3 isotopes in nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>An element consists of 3 isotopes in nature. Isotope #1, with a mass of X, has a 30% isotopic abundance. Isotope #2, with a mass of Y, has a 60% isotopic abundance. Isotope #3, with a mass of Z, has a 10% isotopic abundance. The atomic weight of this element would be closest to which mass: X, Y, or Z<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is: <strong>Y<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>An element&#8217;s <strong>atomic weight<\/strong> is calculated as the <strong>weighted average<\/strong> of the masses of its naturally occurring isotopes, based on their <strong>relative abundances<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this case, we are given:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Isotope #1: Mass = X, Abundance = 30%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Isotope #2: Mass = Y, Abundance = 60%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Isotope #3: Mass = Z, Abundance = 10%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To calculate the atomic weight of the element, we use the formula:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Atomic weight = (fraction of X \u00d7 X) + (fraction of Y \u00d7 Y) + (fraction of Z \u00d7 Z)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s substitute the abundances as decimal fractions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>30% = 0.30<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>60% = 0.60<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>10% = 0.10<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So the equation becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Atomic weight = 0.30 \u00d7 X + 0.60 \u00d7 Y + 0.10 \u00d7 Z<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because isotope #2 (mass Y) has the <strong>largest abundance<\/strong> at <strong>60%<\/strong>, it contributes the most to the weighted average. Even if the exact values of X, Y, and Z are not provided, the result of the weighted average will be <strong>pulled more heavily toward the mass of isotope Y<\/strong> because its contribution is the greatest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is an example using hypothetical masses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>X = 10 u<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Y = 20 u<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Z = 30 u<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Then the atomic weight would be:<br>= (0.30 \u00d7 10) + (0.60 \u00d7 20) + (0.10 \u00d7 30)<br>= 3 + 12 + 3<br>= 18 u<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this case, the atomic weight (18 u) is closer to <strong>Y (20 u)<\/strong> than to X or Z. This example illustrates how the most abundant isotope heavily influences the average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, the atomic weight of this element would be <strong>closest to mass Y<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"852\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1064.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1064.jpeg 852w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1064-250x300.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner8-1064-768x923.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An element consists of 3 isotopes in nature. Isotope #1, with a mass of X, has a 30% isotopic abundance. Isotope #2, with a mass of Y, has a 60% isotopic abundance. Isotope #3, with a mass of Z, has a 10% isotopic abundance. The atomic weight of this element would be closest to which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38809"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38812,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38809\/revisions\/38812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}