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Atomic Mass Help


eLg

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Can someone tell me how to approach this problem.
I don't need to see any solution. I just want to know the steps in solving this kind of problem. huh.gif

A 6.01 g sample of copper is contaminated with an additional 0.64g of zinc. Suppose an atomic mass measurement was performed on this sample.

Do I have to create a balanced equation, and convert the values for moles?

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9.457*10^-2 mol Cu

9.789*10^-3 mol Zn

 

10:1 more or less. Kinda like Cu10Zn, you can calculate a better ratio. So the atomic mass would be about 10 (your calculation) Cu atomic masses + 1 Zn atomic mass.

 

If that's wrong, I'm sure Imatfaal will tell us.

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From Wikipedia:

Direct comparison and measurement of the masses of atoms is achieved with mass spectrometry.

 

From Wikipedia:

Similar definitions apply to molecules. One can compute the molecular mass of a compound by adding the atomic masses of its constituent atoms (nuclides). One can compute the molar mass of a compound by adding the relative atomic masses of the elements given in the chemical formula. In both cases the multiplicity of the atoms (the number of times it occurs) must be taken into account, usually by multiplication of each unique mass by its multiplicity.

Copper and Zinc do not form a molecule AFAIK; rather, they combine in a crystal structure. When a sample is measured by a mass spectrometer, it would have about 10 times as many copper as zinc atoms and the measured atomic weight would be either the atomic weight of Cu and atomic weight of Zn or a combination of the two as if they were a molecule. I'm not sure. Imatfaal will know and should tell us. I am also going on the way you were originally trying to solve the problem by balancing a chemical equation, since you were in lecture, not me, I'm assuming you know something about what your instructor wants.

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