How do you find relative atomic mas?

Answer 1

Relative Atomic Mass is determined by comparing the mass of an atom to one-twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom, which is defined as exactly 12 atomic mass units (amu). To find it, you can use a mass spectrometer to measure the isotopic masses and their relative abundances, then calculate a weighted average based on these values. The formula used is: relative atomic mass = (isotopic mass × relative abundance) / total relative abundance for all isotopes. This gives a value that reflects the average mass of an atom of an element as found in nature.