What is the atomic mass?
In chemistry, the mass of an atom is called atomic mass, which is made up of the total mass of protons and neutrons.
Atomic mass is different from atomic weight, relative atomic mass, atomic number, and mass number or mass number.
The atomic mass is represented in the periodic table of the elements. Let's look at the examples below.
Atomic mass units
The unit of measurement for atomic mass is known as "amu", which results from the abbreviation for "units of atomic mass". It is also known as "u", which summarizes "units of unified atomic mass", and as "Da", which means "Dalton".
This unit is defined as the 1/12 part that has a carbon atom 12 (C-12). Thus, 1 amu corresponds to 1,66053904 x 10 24 grams.
For example, the carbon 12 (C-12) atom in particular has 12 units of atomic mass (u = 12).
Atomic weight
The atomic weight is defined as the average atomic mass of all isotopes of an element.
For example, the atomic weight of carbon, which is calculated from the mean between different carbon isotopes such as C-12 and C-14, is 12.0107.
Atomic number
The atomic number corresponds to the number of protons that each atom of an element contains. This is represented by the letter Z. For example, the atomic number of carbon (C) is 6 (Z = 6).
Mass number
The mass number or mass number refers to the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the atom.
Relative atomic mass
If you want to calculate the atomic mass of an element, and not just an atom, you are talking about relative atomic mass and it is represented by the initials "Ar". Let's see.
Elements can be found in nature in different ways, which in chemical terms means that they can be made up of various isotopes.
Isotopes are used to refer to atoms with different numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons. Therefore, the mass of each isotope is different. Thus, the relative atomic mass corresponds to the mean of the masses of the isotopes of each element.
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