Answer to Question #343854 in General Chemistry for Ddeonu

Question

What is the mass in grams of a single atom of thorium?

Answer 1

According to Mendeleev's periodic table of chemical elements, the relative atomic mass of thorium (Th) is 232,4 gr . this value refers to 1 mole of thorium (Th).

b) According to Avagadro's law, 1 mole of any substance contains 6,02 * 10²³ particles (atoms, molecules).

that is, the mass of 6.02 * 1023 thorium atoms is 242 gr.

 so, to find a single atomic mass, we divide the relative atomic mass by 6,02 * 10²³ :

232,4 / 6,02 * 10²³ = 38,6 * 10^-23

ANSWER: mass of a single atom of Thorium is 38,6 * 10^-23 gr or 3,86 * 10^-24 gr.