Question 5: How can you determine the atomic mass of an unknown metal if you know its density and the dimension of its unit cell? Explain.
Answer:
If we know the density and the dimenstions of unit cell of an unknown metal, the atomic mass of the metal can be determined easily.
Let us assume a cubic crystal,then Its volume of unit cell will be = a3
&
No of atom in each cell = z
Also molar mass of the metal =M,
Mass of each atom = m
Now we know, mass of unit cell = no of atom in each cell x Mass of each atom -------------------(1)
Also Mass of each atom = molar mass / avagadro number ,i.e M/NA ------------(2)
Putting the values of 2 in 1 we get,
Mass of unit cell = Mz / NA ------------------(3)
Now density of unit cell (d) = mass of unit cell / volume of unit cell
Therefore from 1,2,3 we,get
d = Mz / a3 NA---------------------------(4)
From 4th equation we can calculate the atomic mass of unknown metal.
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