A solid cube of aluminum (density 2.70 g/cm3) has a vol- ume of 0.200 cm3. It is known that 27.0 g of aluminum con- tains 6.02 ! 1023 atoms. How many aluminum atoms are contained in the cube?
write this relationship twice, once for the actual sample of aluminum in the problem and once for a 27.0-g sample, and then we divide the first equation by the second:
Solution Because density equals mass per unit volume, the
m sample $ kNsample
m 27.0 g $ kN27.0 g :
m sample
m 27.0 g
Nsample
$
N27.0 g
mass of the cube is
m $ V $ (2.70 g/cm3)(0.200 cm3) $ 0.540 g
Notice that the unknown proportionality constant k cancels, so we do not need to know its value. We now substitute the values:
To solve this problem, we will set up a ratio based on the fact
that the mass of a sample of material is proportional to the number of atoms contained in the sample. This technique
0.540 g
$
27.0 g
N sample
6.02 ! 1023 atoms
of solving by ratios is very powerful and should be studied and understood so that it can be applied in future problem solving. Let us express our proportionality as m $ kN, where
Nsample $
(0.540 g)(6.02 ! 1023 atoms)
27.0 g
m is the mass of the sample, N is the number of atoms in the sample, and k is an unknown proportionality constant. We
$ 1.20 ! 1022 atoms