Why does the carbon-12 isotope have a whole number mass but not the other isotopes?

Why does the carbon−12 isotope have a whole-number mass but not the other isotopes? -Carbon−12 does not have a whole-number mass. -Carbon−12 is assigned a mass of exactly 12.00 and the mass of other isotopes are compared to this mass.

Why are isotopic masses not whole numbers?

Relative isotopic masses are always close to whole-number values, but never (except in the case of carbon-12) exactly a whole number, for two reasons: protons and neutrons have different masses, and different nuclides have different ratios of protons and neutrons.

Why does carbon-12 isotope have a whole number mass but not other isotopes quizlet?

Yes, it is a whole number because it is the sum of the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom. Carbon−12 is assigned a mass of exactly 12.00 and the mass of other isotopes are compared to this mass.

Why is the atomic mass of C 12 exactly 12.000 amu?

The atomic weight of an element is the weighted average of the atomic masses of the different isotopes of an element. Naturally occurring carbon, for example, is a mixture of two isotopes, 12C (98.89\%) and 13C (1.11 \%). Individual carbon atoms therefore have a mass of either 12.000 or 13.03354 amu.

What is the mass in amu Amu of a carbon 12 atom?

12.011 amu
Average Atomic Mass On the periodic table the mass of carbon is reported as 12.011 amu.

Why are mass numbers always whole?

It is also called atomic mass number or nucleon number. Different isotopes of the same element have different mass numbers because their nuclei contain different numbers of neutrons. The mass number is always a whole number; because it is a count of the particles.

Is the isotopic mass of a given isotope ever an exact whole number is it always?

Is the mass of an isotope a whole number? Yes, it is a whole number because it is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atom.

Why is carbon-12 used as the reference isotope?

12C would be assigned a mass of exactly 12. This placed the new scale approximately midway between the two old, oxygen-based scales. Hence, carbon-12 is used as the standard reference for measuring atomic mass.

Why is carbon-12 the most abundant?

Carbon-12 (12C) is the more abundant of the two stable isotopes of carbon (carbon-13 being the other), amounting to 98.93\% of element carbon on Earth; its abundance is due to the triple-alpha process by which it is created in stars. Carbon-12 is composed of 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons.