One gram of hydrogen, which has an atomic mass of 1, would have fewer atoms than 1 gram of carbon that has an atomic mass of 12.

Question

Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)

Answer 1

False

Clarify Question

• What is the key concept addressed by the question?
   o The question asks about the number of atoms in different masses.
• What type of thinking is required?
   o You are being asked to apply your knowledge of atomic mass.

Gather Content

• What do you know about atomic mass to calculate the number of atoms? What other information is related to the question?
   o Hydrogen has an atomic mass of 1 gram/mole while carbon has an atomic mass of 12 grams/mole. Each mole has the same number of atoms. So we can compare the numbers of moles in each sample to see if they have the same numbers of atoms.

Choose Answer

• Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
   o Since we have 1 gram of each sample simply divide the 1 gram by the atomic mass to see how many moles of each are in the sample. For hydrogen this is 1 gram/ 1gram/mole = 1 mole. For hydrogen this is 1 gram/ 12grams/mole = 1/12 mole. So the hydrogen sample will contain 12 times as many atoms as the carbon sample.

Reflect on Process

• Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
   o This question asked you to apply the definition of atomic mass and moles to calculate the relative numbers of atoms in a sample. If you got the correct answer, great job! If you got an incorrect answer, where did the process break down? Did you think that 1 gram of each sample meant the samples had the same number of atoms? Did you think that with an atomic mass of 12, the carbon samples would have more atoms per gram instead of fewer?