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In chemistry, the molar mass (M) (sometimes called molecular weight or formula weight, but see related quantities for usage) of a chemical compound is defined as the ratio between the mass and the amount of substance (measured in moles) of any sample of the compound. [1] The molar mass is a bulk, not molecular, property of a substance.
The terms "molecular mass", "molecular weight", and "molar mass" may be used interchangeably in less formal contexts where unit- and quantity-correctness is not needed. The molecular mass is more commonly used when referring to the mass of a single or specific well-defined molecule and less commonly than molecular weight when referring to a ...
The SI value of the mole was chosen on the basis of the historical definition of the mole as the amount of substance that corresponds to the number of atoms in 12 grams of 12 C, [1] which made the mass of a mole of a compound expressed in grams, numerically equal to the average molecular mass or formula mass of the compound expressed in daltons.
Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element by mass in the Earth's biosphere, air, sea and land. Oxygen is the third most abundant chemical element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium. [ 68 ] About 0.9% of the Sun 's mass is oxygen. [ 19 ]
That is, the molar mass of a chemical compound expressed in g/mol or kg/kmol is numerically equal to its average molecular mass expressed in Da. For example, the average mass of one molecule of water is about 18.0153 Da, and the mass of one mole of water is about 18.0153 g.
For example, 50 g of zinc will react with oxygen to produce 62.24 g of zinc oxide, implying that the zinc has reacted with 12.24 g of oxygen (from the Law of conservation of mass): the equivalent weight of zinc is the mass which will react with eight grams of oxygen, hence 50 g × 8 g/12.24 g = 32.7 g.
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.
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 ...