Urgent help!! Please?

Question

1. Why Atomic mass is not a whole number for most of the element ?
2. How could an element have a whole number for its atomic mass?

Answer 1

Study.

Answer 2

Atomic Mass (or atomic weight) is not a whole number because the mass of a proton is 1.007 atomic mass units (amu), neutron is 1.008 amu, and an electron is 0.0005 amu. No natural element can have a whole number for a mass number. The whole-number mass numbers belong to man made elements.

I'm sorry, lee f, but that is not the case at all.
The question asked about the atomic masses of individual elements, not chemical compounds. Ionic bonds has nothing to do with atomic masses of elements. Also, CO2 is NOT water, it's carbon dioxide; H2O is water, and the is not the the atomic mass; it just represents how many molecules of a certain element there are (water: two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen). Atomic mass/weight is essentially the number of protons plus the number of electrons, but since their weights are not whole numbers, the atomic weight is not a whole number.


How do I know this?
I am taking Chemistry right now.

Answer 3

1) Atomic masses in the periodic table are averages of all the different ispotopes of an element found in nature. Therefore, you are not usually going to find a whole number for an atomic mass.
2) I don't think it is possble to have a whole number for a mass. All masses for elements are based off of the fact that Carbon-12 weighs 12 amu.

Answer 4

1. It is a whole number...with every measurement in chemistry, you have certain digits. For instance, when you use a metric ruler, you can only have certain digits down to milimeters, the space inbetween the lines you make a guess...uncertain digit. The last number is always an uncerctain digit.

So it kinda is a whole number you just have to convert to a smaller unit. 3.5 kg = 3500g

Any way though it's really an average of the masses of all the possible variations (isotopes)

2. Some man-made elements do have a whole number for mass...other than those, only in chemistry homework problems will you see a whole number...in actuallity there isn't going to be but for practice purposes there are.

Answer 5

1. because the atomic mass is an average of all the atomic masses of the various isotopes that are present for a certain element

2. a whole # for an atomic mass would be for a single isotope of an element

Answer 6

as i recall, in nature there are about 90 different kinds of atoms, all of them with a nucleus and an electron cloud, each with its own number of particles of atoms that vary. they are all called an element. the number of protons, in the nucleus, is an element's atomic number. for every element created there is an atomic number, it goes from 1-109. an example; an atom with 6 protons in its nucleus has an atomic number of 6, better known as its carbon. all of them are unique, thats why its not one whole number for most elements. the most important facts you can know about any matter is what element makes it up. each element has its very own set of physical and chemical properties. i can give you the chart; hydogen=1/carbon=6/nitrogen=7/oxygen=8/sodium=11/silicon=14/sulfur=16/chlorine=17/calcium=20/iron=26/silver=47/gold=79/lead=82/uranium=92... different kinds of matter are made of different elements...sodium is held together by ionic bonds and chloride with specks of salt... when the molecules of water join together, atoms bind the water... metallic matter hold themselves together with atoms of peices of metal... although it is all held together, all the earths different atmospheric gases, using different methods, they can be seperated... i have provided the common elements; h/ c/ n/ o/ Na/ Si/ S/ CI/ Ca/ Fe/ Ag/ Au/ Pb/ U... this has nothing to do with the names of the elements, it is mostly latin, scientist all over the world use these symbols to explain elements and their compounds. we have to have combinations of chemical symbols or formulas so that we can determine how many elements are present in a compound, that is why it cannot be a whole number.
an element can have a whole number only in the case of, example; the chemical CO2, (water), notice that the number 2 is a whole number that tells how many atoms of an element are present for its atomic mass, that is how an element has a whole number for its atomic mass...

Answer 7

Get a life loserrrrrrrr

Answer 8

1 because it wants to
2 it tryed really really hard