Prior to 1961, the atomic mass standard was defined as of the mass of 16O. Based on that standard: (a) What was the mass of carbon-12, given the modern atomic mass of oxygen is 15.9994 amu? (b) What was the mass of potassium-39, given its modern isotopic mass is 38.9637 amu?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The mass of carbon-12 is 12.00045amu.The mass of potassium-39 is38.9652amu

Step by step solution

01

Finding the mass of carbon-12

The carbon mass on old scale can be calculated as:

modernmassof16Omodernmassof12C=massof16Oonoldscalemassof12Conoldscale15.999412=16mm=12.00045amu

02

Finding the mass of potassium-39

The atomic ratio of modern isotopic mass of potassium-39 can be denoted as,

modernmassof16Omodernmassof39K=massof16Oonoldscalemassof39Konoldscale15.999438.9637=16mm=38.9652amu

On solving the isotopic mass,

Isotopicmassof39K=measuredmassratio×massof16O=2.435×21.328amu=51.938amu

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