What is the difference between percent and fractional abundance

The key difference between percent abundance and relative abundance is that percent abundance gives the abundance of isotopes whereas relative abundance gives the abundance of chemical elements. The percent abundance can be used to determine the average atomic mass of a certain chemical element. Relative abundance gives the occurrence of a certain chemical element in a given environment, i. Overview and Key Difference 2.

What is Percent Abundance 3. What is Relative Abundance 4. Percent abundance is the percentage amount of all naturally occurring isotopes of an element. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have identical atomic numbers but different mass numbers.

This means isotopes are atoms having the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus, but different numbers of neutrons.

Isotopes of each element occur naturally in different ratios. Next, we bring like terms together by moving When we move it, here is how the rearranged equation will appear:. Notice that the negative signs and units cancel each other when we divide by Therefore, the fractional abundance of isotope 1 Silver is 0.

To get the percentage abundance, we will simply multiply each fractional abundance by Recall that fractional abundance is calculated by dividing the percentage abundance by Therefore, to get back percentage abundance, we multiply fractional abundance by If we do, the percentage abundance for silver is 0.

And percentage abundance for silver is 0. To learn how to calculate atomic mass using percentage abundance and isotopic masses click here. Formula for calculating atomic mass. I teach chemistry at Wright State University. His writing covers science, math and home improvement and design, as well as religion and the oriental healing arts.

The quantity x is the fractional abundance of the isotope with mass m 1. How to Calculate Isotopes. How to Find Average Atomic Mass. How to Find Relative Mass. How to Calculate Theoretical Percent. How to Find the Number of Atoms in an Element.

How to Calculate Statistical Difference. How to Calculate Cumulative Relative Frequency. How to Find Mole Ratio. How to Calculate the Percentage of Another Number. How to Calculate the Final Concentration of a Solution How to Solve Chemistry Isotope Problems.