Isotop

es
General Chemistry 1

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Learning Goals:
• Determine atomic numbers, mass numbers, and
isotope symbols for an isotope.
• Determine number of protons and neutrons from
isotopes.
• Calculate atomic mass from
percent natural abundances
and isotopic masses.
 Background
• John Dalton assumed that all of the atoms
of a given element were identical.
• James Chadwick discovered
that nuclei of most atoms
contain neutrons as well
as protons.
 Isotopes
Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element
which differ in neutron number. All isotopes of a given
element have the same number of protons in each atom.
The term isotope is formed from the Greek root “isos”
meaning equal and “topos” meaning place meaning the
“same place” thus the meaning behind the name is that
different isotopes of a single element occupy the same
position on the periodic table.
 Isotopes
Example, a naturally occurring Neon
contains three different isotopes:

Ne-20 (with 10 protons and 10 neutrons)

Ne-21 (with 10 protons and 11 neutrons)
Ne-22 (with 10 protons and 12 neutrons)
 Isotope Notation
Isotopes are often symbolized in the
following way:

X = element symbol
Z = Atomic Number: number of
protons
A = Mass Number: sum of the number
of protons and neutrons
Isotope Notation For example, the
symbols for the
isotopes of Carbon
are as follows:
 Isotope Notation
The mass number (A) is the sum of the
number of protons and the number of
neutrons.

• The number of neutrons in an isotope

is the difference between the mass
number and the atomic number.
 Isotope Notation
A second notation for isotopes is the chemical
symbol (or chemical name) followed by a hyphen
and the mass number of the isotope.
 Isotope Notation

In this notation, the Neon isotopes are as follows:

Ne-20 neon-20
Ne-21 neon-21
Ne-22 neon-22
 Average Atomic Mass

• In nature, elements are usually found as a

mixture of isotopes.
• The atomic mass of each element listed in the
periodic table represents the average mass of
the atoms that compose that element.
 Average Atomic Mass

EXAMPLE:
A naturally occurring chlorine consists of:
75.77% chlorine-35 (mass 34.97 amu)
24.23% chlorine-37 (mass 36.97 amu)

Find the Atomic Mass

 Average Atomic Mass
• In general, atomic mass is calculated according to the following
equation:

Atomic mass = (Percent of isotope 1 × Mass of isotope 1) +

(Percent of isotope 2 × Mass of isotope 2) + (Percent of isotope 3
× Mass of isotope 3) + …

*where the percentages of each isotope are converted to

their decimal values
 Average Atomic Mass

Its atomic mass is the following:

Note: amu stands for Atomic Mass

Unit
Thank
You