Solved cryptogram
The weight printed under an element on the table is an average, and no single atom has it.
Chemistry Facts, sourced to CIAAW, IUPAC.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 71 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
Chlorine is given as about thirty five and a half, which sounds like a measurement error until you know what is being averaged. Natural chlorine is a mixture of two isotopes, one with eighteen neutrons and one with twenty, in a roughly three to one ratio, and the figure is the weighted mean. Because the mixture varies slightly with the source, several elements are now published as a range rather than as a single number.
The claim comes from CIAAW, IUPAC.
- SourceCIAAW, IUPAC
- CollectionChemistry Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length71 letters, 18 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- U.S. Geological Surveyhard, 73 letters
- U.S. Department of Energymedium, 70 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 75 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistryhard, 77 letters
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Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 75 letters
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- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 75 letters
- Royal Society of Chemistrymedium, 77 letters