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The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol Z) of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (np) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every atom of that element. The atomic number can be used to uniquely identify ...
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]
The mass number (symbol A, from the German word: Atomgewicht, "atomic weight"), [1] also called atomic mass number or nucleon number, is the total number of protons and neutrons (together known as nucleons) in an atomic nucleus. It is approximately equal to the atomic (also known as isotopic) mass of the atom expressed in atomic mass units.
The nucleon number (mass number) is shown in the left superscript position (e.g., 14 N). This number defines the specific isotope. Various letters, such as "m" and "f" may also be used here to indicate a nuclear isomer (e.g., 99m Tc). Alternately, the number here can represent a specific spin state (e.g., 1 O 2). These details can be omitted if ...
Hydrogen-1 (the lightest isotope of hydrogen which is also the nuclide with the lowest mass) has an atomic weight of 1.007825 Da. [62] The value of this number is called the atomic mass. A given atom has an atomic mass approximately equal (within 1%) to its mass number times the atomic mass unit (for example the mass of a nitrogen-14 is roughly ...
The overlaps get quite close at the point where the d-orbitals enter the picture, [50] and the order can shift slightly with atomic number [51] and atomic charge. [52] [h] Starting from the simplest atom, this lets us build up the periodic table one at a time in order of atomic number, by considering the cases of single atoms.
Different isotopes of a given element are distinguished by their mass number, which is written as a superscript on the left hand side of the chemical symbol (e.g., 238 U). The mass number is always an integer and has units of "nucleons". Thus, magnesium-24 (24 is the mass number) is an atom with 24 nucleons (12 protons and 12 neutrons).
A set of base units in the atomic system as in one proposal are the electron rest mass, the magnitude of the electronic charge, the Planck constant, and the permittivity. [6] [9] In the atomic units system, each of these takes the value 1; the corresponding values in the International System of Units [10]: 132 are given in the table.