What is the Difference Between Percent Abundance and Relative Abundance?

The difference between percent abundance and relative abundance lies in what they represent and how they are used:

• Percent Abundance: This represents the isotope abundance of a chemical element. It is the percentage of atoms with a specific atomic mass found in a naturally occurring sample of an element. Percent abundance can be used to calculate the average atomic mass of a chemical element.
• Relative Abundance: This represents the chemical element abundance in a given environment, such as on Earth. It is the percentage of the occurrence of an element relative to all other elements in the environment. Relative abundances of all stable isotopes of an element always add up to 100%.

In summary, percent abundance is concerned with the proportion of isotopes within a specific element, while relative abundance gives the occurrence of a certain chemical element in a given environment relative to all other elements.

Comparative Table: Percent Abundance vs Relative Abundance

Here is a table comparing the differences between percent abundance and relative abundance:

Both percent abundance and relative abundance are percentage values that express the proportions of different chemical elements or isotopes. However, percent abundance focuses on the abundance of isotopes of a specific element, while relative abundance compares the abundance of different isotopes within the same element.