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Molecular weight (M.W.) (for molecular compounds) and formula weight (F.W.) (for non-molecular compounds), are older terms for what is now more correctly called the relative molar mass (M r). [8] This is a dimensionless quantity (i.e., a pure number, without units) equal to the molar mass divided by the molar mass constant .
A theoretical average molecular mass can be calculated using the standard atomic weights found in a typical periodic table. The average molecular mass of a very small sample, however, might differ substantially from this since a single sample average is not the same as the average of many geographically distributed samples.
Thus, molecular mass and molar mass differ slightly in numerical value and represent different concepts. Molecular mass is the mass of a molecule, which is the sum of its constituent atomic masses. Molar mass is an average of the masses of the constituent molecules in a chemically pure but isotopically heterogeneous ensemble.
This template calculates the molecular mass (or molar mass) of a chemical compound. It is designed to be embedded in infoboxes {{ Infobox drug }} and {{ Chembox }} , but it can be used in-line just as well.
For gases, the volume ratio is ideally the same by the ideal gas law, but the mass ratio of a single reaction has to be calculated from the molecular masses of the reactants and products. In practice, because of the existence of isotopes, molar masses are used instead in calculating the mass ratio.
The mass-average molecular mass, M w, is also related to the fractional monomer conversion, p, in step-growth polymerization (for the simplest case of linear polymers formed from two monomers in equimolar quantities) as per Carothers' equation: ¯ = + ¯ = (+), where M o is the molecular mass of the repeating unit.
The molar mass constant, usually denoted by M u, is a physical constant defined as one twelfth of the molar mass of carbon-12: M u = M(12 C)/12. [1] The molar mass of an element or compound is its relative atomic mass (atomic weight) or relative molecular mass (molecular weight or formula weight) multiplied by the molar mass constant.
Graham's law can also be used to find the approximate molecular weight of a gas if one gas is a known species, and if there is a specific ratio between the rates of two gases (such as in the previous example). The equation can be solved for the unknown molecular weight.