Question
Question: What is the mass in \[grams\] of a single atom of \[chlorine\] ? (Atomic mass of \[chlorine\]= \[35....
What is the mass in grams of a single atom of chlorine ? (Atomic mass of chlorine= 35.5)
Solution
To answer the above question we need to find the number of moles of the substance. Molecular mass is expressed in a unified atomic mass unit which is equal to the mass of that given compound in 1mole of the molecule.
Complete answer:
Molecular mass is given by dividing the mass of a sample compound by the amount of substance in that sample. It is the mass of 1mole of the substance or equals the Avogadro’s number which is 6.022×1023 particles expressed in grams.
Keeping this concept in mind we will solve the given question
Atomic mass of chlorine=35.5
This means that 6.022×1023 atoms of chlorine have a mass of 35.5$$$$grams
This can be summed up as
1 mole = Atomic mass of chlorine= Avogadro’s number
1 mole chlorine= 35.5$$$$grams= 6.022×1023
For 1 chlorine atom = 6.022×102335.5
=5.89×10−23g/atom
Thus the mass in grams of a single atom of chlorine =5.89×10−23g/atom
Additional information: The term molecular mass, molar mass and molecular weight are used interchangeably. The molecular mass is more commonly used when referring to the mass of a single or specific well defined molecule and less commonly than molecular weight when referring to a weighted average sample. The molecular mass of small to medium size molecules, measured by mass spectroscopy, can be used to determine the composition of elements in the molecules.
Note:
Another way of determining the molecular mass is by adding the atomic masses of all the compounds. This is done by calculating the molar mass of a compound with multiple atoms and summing up all the atomic mass of the constituent atoms.