The average Atomic Mass is weighted by the most common isotopes and their relative abundance.
The number that's in the position where chlorine has "35.453" is the average atomic mass in atomic mass units for that element assuming the various isotopes are present in their "natural" ratio. The two common isotoped of chlorine are chlorine-35 and chlorine-37; since in nature there are about 3 35Cl atoms per 37Cl atom, the ratio works out to be distinctly non-integral (also contributing slightly to the non-integral average mass is the fact that the atomic masses of the two isotopes are not EXACTLY 35 and 37).
There are different isotopes of the element. Isotopes are atoms of an element that have different amounts of protons, so the isotopes with more protons weigh more because there is more mass in the atom. Some isotopes are more common than others, and the atomic mass is a weighted AVERAGE of all the isotopes of that element. On most elements there is a large difference between the most common and lesser common isotopes, but chlorine has 2 isotopes that are very close. So the average ends up between the two numbers. The actual weight of 1 atom will never be something.5 because protons and neutrons weigh 1amu and electrons weigh 0. But in most cases the sample of a chemical you use will be a mixture of the isotopes, so the .5 weight will be correct.
Each chlorine atom contains 17 electrons, which offset the electric charge of the 17 protons in the nucleus of each atom, as indicated by the fact that the atomic number of chlorine is 17. The number of neutrons per atom varies, however, depending on which isotope of chlorine is examined. There are two naturally occurring and radioactively stable isotopes of chlorine, with mass numbers of 35 and 37, and there are many other radioactive isotopes. The number of neutrons in an atom of a particular isotope may be found by subtracting 17, the atomic number of chlorine, from the mass number.
A chlorine atom is more massive than a carbon atom. Chlorine has an atomic mass of 35.45 amu, while carbon has an atomic mass of 12.01 amu.
The number on the bottom of the periodic table block for chlorine, which is approximately 35.45, represents its atomic weight (or atomic mass). This value is the average mass of an atom of chlorine, taking into account the relative abundances of its isotopes. Atomic weight is measured in atomic mass units (amu) and reflects the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
Atomic number is unique to an element. Since both Chlorine-35 and Chlorine-37 has atomic number of 17, they are both Chlorine. However they have different atomic mass (caused by different number of neutrons in the atom) thus they are called isotope.
Chlorine has an atomic mass of 35.5 because the atomic mass of an element is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons. In chlorine, there are always 17 protons (the number of protons in an atom is what makes it whichever element it is), but it is possible to have different amounts of neutrons in the atom. These are called different isotopes of an element. In chlorine, there can be between 17 and 20 neutrons meaning the mass number can range between 34 and 37. The reason that it is written as 35.5 on the periodic table is because that is the average mass number.
Atomic number is equal to the number of protons. The atomic number of chlorine is 17. So chlorine has 17 protons.
The atomic mass is the mass of an atom of that element in AMUs. (Atomic Mass Units)The atomic number, however, is equivalent to the number of protons in an atom of that element.The mass number of an atom is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom. This is therefore always a whole number. The relative atomic mass of an element is the weighted average of the masses of the isotopes relative to 1/12 of the mass of a carbon-12 atom.It is a weighted average as it takes into account the relative abundances of the different isotopes (atoms of the same element but with different numbers of neutrons) of an element. This number is found in the periodic table.For example chlorine has two isotopes, 35Cl and 37Cl, in the approximate ratio of 3 atoms of 35Cl to 1 atom of 37Cl.The number of protons and neutrons in a 35Cl atom must add up to 35, the mass number. The relative atomic mass of chlorine takes into account both isotopes and is therefore 35.5.
Chlorine is considered a medium-weight atom with an atomic mass of approximately 35.5 atomic mass units.
The atomic weight is the average weight of an element when all of the isotopes are averaged. This does not mean that there is a portion of a neutron in the atom.. All of the isotopes of an element have a whole number of protons and neutrons. the atomic weight is the average of all the isotopes found, it is affected by the ratios of the different isotopes. If the number was a whole number then no known isotopes have been found.
No, the mass of chlorine atoms is not always 35.47. Chlorine has two stable isotopes, chlorine-35 and chlorine-37, with respective abundances of approximately 75.77% and 24.23%. The average atomic mass of chlorine, taking into account these isotopes and their abundance, is approximately 35.45.