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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.
The molar mass of atoms of an element is given by the relative atomic mass of the element multiplied by the molar mass constant, M u ≈ 1.000 000 × 10 −3 kg/mol ≈ 1 g/mol. For normal samples from Earth with typical isotope composition, the atomic weight can be approximated by the standard atomic weight [ 2 ] or the conventional atomic weight.
Theoretical chemistry requires quantities from core physics, such as time, volume, temperature, and pressure.But the highly quantitative nature of physical chemistry, in a more specialized way than core physics, uses molar amounts of substance rather than simply counting numbers; this leads to the specialized definitions in this article.
Relative atomic and molecular masses as defined are dimensionless. Molar masses when expressed in g/mol have almost identical numerical values as relative atomic and molecular masses. For example, the molar mass and molecular mass of methane, whose molecular formula is CH 4, are calculated respectively as follows:
atomic weight – See: relative atomic mass [11] and relative atomic mass (atomic weight) – The ratio of the average mass of the atom to the unified atomic mass unit. [12] Here the "unified atomic mass unit" refers to 1/12 of the mass of an atom of 12 C in its ground state. [13] The IUPAC definition [1] of relative atomic mass is:
Thus, the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom is 12 Da by definition, but the relative isotopic mass of a carbon-12 atom is simply 12. The sum of relative isotopic masses of all atoms in a molecule is the relative molecular mass. The atomic mass of an isotope and the relative isotopic mass refers to a certain specific isotope of an element.
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.
Atomic weight and relative atomic mass are synonyms. The standard atomic weight is a special value of the relative atomic mass. It is defined as the "recommended values" of relative atomic masses of sources in the local environment of the Earth's crust and atmosphere as determined by the IUPAC Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic ...