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Isotopes and Mass Spectrometry Practice

Background: The mass spectrometer can be used to find the average atomic mass of atoms. Essentially,
the mass spec is a curved tube that has a vaporizer, an ionizer, a magnet, and a detector at the end (See
Figure 1). The machine works by first vaporizing a sample injected into it. Next, the sample is ionized
(giving it a charge) as it passes through a stream of electrons. Once in an ionic state, the sample particles
are accelerated through the tube by a set of magnets. Because of their momentum, ions with greater mass
will not change their path as much as smaller ions. At the end of the tube is a detector. The detector
identifies the mass of each particle by its path and creates a graph showing the relative abundance (how
much) of each isotope is there. In this way the mass spectrometer can determine mass and the relative
abundance of each isotope in the sample.

Figure 1: A diagram of a mass spectrometer.

A sample is injected into the machine,
vaporized by a heater, and then ionized by a
stream of high-energy electrons. The
resulting Ions are accelerated through
parallel electric plates and then deflected in a
magnetic field before they reach a detector.
Image from Openstax, CC BY 4 .0.

High m ass
particles

Low mass particles

The computer will create a graph of isotope mass and relative abundance. See Figure 2.

Since the tallest (most abundant) line is for mass number 20, it
can be deduced that neons average atomic mass is closer to 20.
90.92%
These graphs can also be used to calculate the average atomic mass
using this equation:

(% !"## !"#$%&) ! (% !"## !"#$%&).
Avg. atomic mass = !""


8.82%
For example, we can calculate neons average atomic mass: 0.260%
(!".!" !") ! (!.!"# !") ! (!.!" !")
!""
=

!"!".! ! !.!" ! !"!.!" !"!#.!"
!""
= !"" = 20.3
Figure 2: A sample diagram of a mass
spectrum of Neon. It shows the mass
number o f each isotope and their
relative abundance. Image from
austute.com.au.

 Practice problems: 81.3%
1. Consider this mass spectrum for the element
boron to the right.
a. How many naturally occurring isotopes does
boron have?
b. Calculate the atomic mass of boron- check your
18.7%
answer with the atomic mass on the periodic table.
Show your work!




c. How does borons atomic mass compare with the mass numbers of its isotopes?

2. Consider the mass spectrum for zirconium.
a. Which isotope is most abundant?

b. Which isotope is least abundant?
51.5%
c. Predict, what will the atomic mass of zirconium
17.5% 18.5% be:
10.5%
2.0%
i. 93.5
ii. 92
iii. 90.5

d. Calculate the atomic mass. Check your answer with the atomic mass on the periodic table. Show your
work!



3. Lead has four naturally occurring, stable isotopes. The table shows their Mass Relative
masses and relative abundances. number abundance
(%)
a. How many peaks will the mass spectrum for lead have?
204 1.4

206 25.0
b. Draw a mass spectrum for lead, based on the data in the table: 207 21.6
208 52.0


% abundance

Mass n umber

Challenge! Carbon has two naturally occurring isotopes, carbon-12 and carbon-13. Its atomic mass is
12.011. Based on this data, calculate the relative abundances of each of carbons isotopes. Show your
work and give your answer with 3 sig figs.