Instead of using actual atomic masses, chemists find it more convenient to work with relative atomic masses, standard value. In determining relative atomic masses, one atom is chosen as the standard and assigned a value. This is very easy to establish and use.
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1. Atomic mass unit
In establishing the relative scale for atomic masses, the carbon-12 atom is chosen as the standard. A single carbon-12 atom has an actual mass of 1.99 * 10-23g. Based on this, one atomic mass unit is exactly 1/12 of the mass of a carbon-12 atom. Therefore, 1.99 * 10-23 divided by 12 equals to 1.66 * 10-24, which means actual mass values of atoms.
2. A mole
A mole is a collection of 6.022 * 1023 particles as if one dozen is collection of 12. You might wonder why that number is so special and important. Here is the answer. There is exactly 1 mol of atoms in the atomic mass of an element when that mass is expressed in grams. For example carbon-12 is 12.00 amu and at that time 1 mol, or 6.022 * 1023, carbon-12 atoms has a mass of 12.00g. This number is discovered by Amedeo Avogadro (1776 - 1856) who were Italian scientists and we named after him.
This process is actually quite easy to understand. Take for example, something fluffy such as a pillow or a fluffy sweater, when these things are compressed, they take up less space than they usually do. Atoms are very much like this in that their size really depends on how far away the electrons are from the nuclei.
What trends are found in the periodic table? How are elements created?
