Download Review questions —

Review questions —
Nucleosynthesis and elemental abundances
What is an isotope?
An isotope is an atom of an element that have different numbers of nuetrons,
causing them to have a different mass. The number of protons does not change in an atom
because this defines the type of element the atom is.
How is the atomic weight of an element calculated (i.e., the atomic weight that appears in
the periodic table of the elements)?
The atomic weight of an atom is determine by the sum of mass of all protons,
neutrons and electrons in an atom.
How does a mass spectrometer work?
A mass spectrometer uses a magnetic force on a moving charged particle to
measure the mass and the concentration of atoms and molecules. When a charged
particle move perpendicular to a magnetic fiels it follows a circular path and different
elemts with have different path radiuses.
What are the processes of hydrogen burning, the CNO cycle and helium burning and to
what result?
Where and how are the most massive (i.e., highest atomic number) elements formed?
What are the most abundant elements in the solar system? Answer in terms of absolute
abundances and according to atomic number.
What is a stable isotope? A radioactive isotope?
What is a radioactive decay chain?
Explain how the atomic structure of an element gives us K and K energies that we can
use to identify minerals in an electron microprobe?
Which groups of elements share similar chemical properties? Why?
Why are the noble gases the most stable chemical elements?