Question

Atomic mass of chlorine is a fraction and not a whole number [Cl=35.5]

Answer 1

Answer:

The reason for the atomic mass of chlorine taken as 35.5u and not as 35u because of the presence of isotopes.

Isotopes are defined as variants of a particular element where these variants will have the same number of protons but differ in the number of neutrons in the atom.

Atomic mass in an atom or group of an atom is the sum of the masses of protons, neutrons and electrons. For an element relative atomic mass is the average mass of the naturally occurring isotopes of that element relative to the mass of an atom of 12C.

As chlorine contains two different isotopes, chlorine-35 and chlorine-37 , atomic mass of chlorine is a fraction and not a whole number .

Explanation:

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