The element copper, found in nature with an average atomic mass of 63.54u, consists of two isotopes, copper-63 of atomic mass 62.93u and copper-65 of atomic mass 64.93u. Calculate the abundance of each isotope.

I can't come up with an equation to solve it; can someone please help with this?

62.93*(x) + 64.93*(1-x) = 63.54

where x is decimal equivalent for that isotope and 1-x for the other isotope.

Let the fraction of Copper-65 = x.

Then Copper-63 would be (1-x)
We set up an equation for the "weighted average" of copper based on the individual isotopes of copper:
62.93(1-x) + 64.93x = 63.54
Solve for x to get the % of Cu-63
Use (1-x) to get the % of Cu-65

oh ok, I solved it, thank you very much! :]

To calculate the abundance of each isotope, we can use the principle that the average atomic mass is equal to the weighted average of the atomic masses of the isotopes, multiplied by their respective abundances.

Let's assume the abundance of copper-63 is x, and the abundance of copper-65 is 1-x (since the total abundance is always 1).

Now, we can set up an equation using the given information:

(Atomic mass of copper-63) * (Abundance of copper-63) + (Atomic mass of copper-65) * (Abundance of copper-65) = Average atomic mass of copper

(62.93u) * x + (64.93u) * (1 - x) = 63.54u

Now we can solve this equation for x:

62.93x + 64.93 - 64.93x = 63.54

-2x = -1.39

x = -1.39 / -2

x ≈ 0.695

So, the abundance of copper-63 is approximately 0.695, and the abundance of copper-65 is approximately 1 - 0.695 = 0.305.

Therefore, copper-63 isotope is about 69.5% abundant, and copper-65 isotope is about 30.5% abundant.