there are 3 naturally occurring stable isotopes of oxygen:O-16,O-17, O-18. there are 2 naturally occurring stable isotopes of hydrogen: H-1, H-2.how many different water molecules can be made using the various combination's of all the isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen?
I'm not good at counting these things. You really need a math man to answer this; however, I count 9. Maybe Mathmate, Reiny, or Bob Pursley will do this right.
You need two H, one O
ways: 3*2*2=12 Three choices on O, two choices each H.
I hate to be dense about this BUT, I can't count but 9.
1 1 16
1 1 17
1 1 18
1 2 16
1 2 17
1 2 18
2 2 16
2 2 17
2 2 18
2 1 16
2 1 17
2 1 18
Which gives 12; however, the last three, considering that they are H2O molecules, are the same as set #2 but reversed. It doesn't make a new molecule of H2O, so I still count only 9.
To determine the number of different water molecules that can be made using the various combinations of isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen, we need to consider the isotopic composition of water.
Water (H2O) consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Since there are two isotopes of hydrogen (H-1 and H-2) and three isotopes of oxygen (O-16, O-17, and O-18), we can calculate the number of different water molecules by finding the possible combinations of each isotope.
For the hydrogen atoms, we have two options - either H-1 or H-2. So, for each hydrogen atom, we have two choices, resulting in a total of 2 × 2 = 4 possible combinations for the two hydrogen atoms.
For the oxygen atom, we have three options - O-16, O-17, or O-18. So, we have three choices for one oxygen atom.
Therefore, the total number of different water molecules that can be made using the various combinations of isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen is 4 × 3 = 12.
So, using the three naturally occurring isotopes of oxygen and two isotopes of hydrogen, we can create 12 different water molecules based on the different possible combinations of those isotopes.