Isotopes play a vital role in understanding atomic mass. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that differ in the number of neutrons they possess. This variation in the number of neutrons leads to different atomic masses for isotopes of the same element.

The atomic mass of an element is the average mass of all its naturally occurring isotopes, taking into account their relative abundance. To represent isotopes, we use the element's symbol with a superscript indicating the mass number, which is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. For example, carbon has three isotopes: carbon-12 (with 6 protons and 6 neutrons), carbon-13 (with 6 protons and 7 neutrons), and carbon-14 (with 6 protons and 8 neutrons).

The abundance of each isotope is expressed as a percentage of its occurrence in nature. To calculate the average atomic mass, we multiply the mass of each isotope by its relative abundance and sum up the contributions from all isotopes.

Tags: atomic mass, isotopes, average atomic mass