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The atomic mass (ma or m) is the mass of an atom. Although the SI unit of mass is the kilogram (symbol: kg), atomic mass is often expressed in the non-SI unit dalton (symbol: Da) – equivalently, unified atomic mass unit (u). 1 Da is defined as 1⁄12 of the mass of a free carbon-12 atom at rest in its ground state. [1]
Atomic mass: (applies to each element) the average mass of the atoms of an element, in daltons (Da), a.k.a. atomic mass units (amu). Atomic number: (applies to individual atoms or pure elements) the number of protons in each nucleus; Relative atomic mass, a.k.a. atomic weight: (applies to individual isotopes or specific mixtures of isotopes of ...
An example of use of a mass number is "carbon-12," which has 12 nucleons (six protons and six neutrons). The actual mass of an atom at rest is often expressed in daltons (Da), also called the unified atomic mass unit (u). This unit is defined as a twelfth of the mass of a free neutral atom of carbon-12, which is approximately 1.66 × 10 −27 ...
For example, the atomic mass constant is exactly known when expressed using the dalton (its value is exactly 1 Da), but the kilogram is not exactly known when using these units, the opposite of when expressing the same quantities using the kilogram.
However, the relative atomic mass of each isotope is quite close to its mass number (always within 1%). The only isotope whose atomic mass is exactly a natural number is 12 C, which has a mass of 12 Da; because the dalton is defined as 1/12 of the mass of a free neutral carbon-12 atom in the ground state.
The molar mass of a substance depends not only on its molecular formula, but also on the distribution of isotopes of each chemical element present in it. For example, the molar mass of calcium-40 is 39.962 590 98 (22) g/mol, whereas the molar mass of calcium-42 is 41.958 618 01 (27) g/mol, and of calcium with the normal isotopic mix is 40.078(4 ...
Relative atomic mass is determined by the average atomic mass, or the weighted mean of the atomic masses of all the atoms of a particular chemical element found in a particular sample, which is then compared to the atomic mass of carbon-12. [10] This comparison is the quotient of the two weights, which makes the value dimensionless (having no ...
For 12 C, the isotopic mass is exactly 12, since the atomic mass unit is defined as 1/12 of the mass of 12 C. For other isotopes, the isotopic mass is usually within 0.1 u of the mass number. For example, 35 Cl (17 protons and 18 neutrons) has a mass number of 35 and an isotopic mass of 34.96885. [7]