Nitrogen is made up of two isotopes, N-14 and N-15. Given nitrogen's atomic weight of 14007, what is the percent abudence of each isotope

1 answer

To find the percent abundance of each isotope of nitrogen, we need to determine the ratio of the masses of the isotopes and use it to calculate the percentage.

Let X be the percent abundance of N-14 and 100-X be the percent abundance of N-15.

The atomic weight of nitrogen can be expressed as:

(14 * X/100) + (15 * (100-X)/100) = 14007.

Expanding the equation:

(14X/100) + (1500 - 15X)/100 = 14007.

Multiplying both sides by 100 to eliminate the denominators:

14X + 1500 - 15X = 1400700.

Subtracting 1500 from both sides:

-X = 1400700 - 1500.

Simplifying:

-X = 1400200.

Dividing both sides by -1:

X = -1400200.

Therefore, the percent abundance of N-14 is -1400200 and the percent abundance of N-15 is 100 - (-1400200) = 100 + 1400200 = 1400300.

However, since negative percent abundance is not possible, it seems like there might be an error in the given information or calculation. Please make sure to double-check the values provided.