Institute of Business Administration (IBA)

University of Dhaka

G 108: Intro to Physical Science

BBA 28th Batch, Spring 2021

Course Teacher: Dr. Saika Ahmed

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry
University of Dhaka
Email: saika@du.ac.bd
 Lecture 4
MARCH 28, 2021
Contents:

▪ Atomic Mass
▪ Avogadro’s Number
▪ Molar Mass
▪ Molecular Mass

Reference books:
1. Chemistry (10th edition) by Chang
2. General Chemistry (11th edition) by Ebbing & Gammon
 Atomic Mass
As a single atom can not be weighed, rather it is possible to determine the mass of
one atom relative to another experimentally. The first step is to assign a value to the
mass of one atom of a given element so that it can be used as a standard.

Carbon-12 isotope is chosen as the standard and is arbitrarily assigned a mass of

exactly 12 atomic mass units (amu).
𝟏
1 amu = x mass of one carbon-12 atom
𝟏𝟐

Atomic mass (also called atomic weight) of an atom is the mass of the atom in amu.

For example, on average, a hydrogen atom is only 8.400% as massive as the carbon-
12 atom. Thus, the atomic mass of hydrogen must be 0.084 x 12.00 amu or 1.008
amu.
 Atomic Mass: Average Atomic Mass
In the periodic table, the value of atomic mass of Carbon is not
12.00 amu, but 12.01 amu.

The reason for the difference is that most naturally occurring

elements (including carbon) have more than one isotope. The mass
on the periodic table thus indicates the average mass of the naturally occurring
mixture of isotopes.

For example, the natural abundances of carbon-12 and carbon-13

are 98.90% and 1.10% , respectively. The atomic mass of carbon-13
has been determined to be 13.00335 amu. Thus, the average
atomic mass of carbon can be calculated as:
 Atomic Mass: Average Atomic Mass

When it is said that the atomic mass of carbon is 12.01 amu, it therefore refers to
the average value. If carbon atoms could be examined individually, we would find
either an atom of atomic mass 12.00000 amu or one of 13.00335 amu, but never
one of 12.01 amu.

Fractional abundance of an isotope is the fraction of the total number of atoms

that is composed of a particular isotope.
 Atomic Mass: Average Atomic Mass
Practice Exercise:

*The ‘average atomic mass or weight’ is often written as ‘atomic mass’ or ‘atomic weight’ for simplicity.
 Atomic Mass: Average Atomic Mass
Practice Exercises:
Avogadro’s Number
The number of atoms in a 12 g sample of carbon-12 is called
Avogadro’s number.

Avogadro’s Number, NA = 6.0221415 x 1023

Amedeo Avogadro, 1776-1856

A mole of a substance
contains Avogadro’s
number (6.02 x 1023) of
atoms or molecules or ions.
 Molar Mass
1 mole (mol) is the amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities
(atoms, molecules, or other particles) as the number of atoms in exactly 12 g of the
carbon-12 isotope.

The molar mass of a substance is the mass of one mole of the substance. For
example, Carbon-12 has a molar mass of exactly 12 g/mol, by definition.

Thus, 1 mole of carbon contains 6.02 x 1023 C atoms, which has a total mass of 12 g.

Similarly, 1 mole of oxygen atoms (with the formula O) contains 6.02 x 1023 O
atoms. A mole of oxygen molecules (formula O2) contains 6.02 x 1023 O2
molecules—that is, 2 × 6.02 x 1023 O atoms.
What should be the mass of one C atom?
what should be the mass of 1 mole of O atom and 1 mole of O2 molecule?
 Molar Mass

*M= Molar mass, NA= Avogadro’s number

Problem exercise:

1. How many moles of calcium (Ca) atoms are in 77.4 g of Ca? 1.93 moles
2. How many atoms are present in 3.14 g of copper (Cu)? 2.97 x 1022 atoms
3. What is the mass in grams of a calcium atom, Ca? 6.7 x 10-23 g
4. Dilute aqueous solutions are used as a bleach. Analysis of a solution shows that it
contains 0.909 mol hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in 1.00 L of solution. What is the mass
of H2O2 in this volume of solution? 30.9 g
Molecular Mass
Molecular mass/molecular weight = sum of the atomic masses (in
amu) in the molecule

**For ionic compounds like NaCl and MgO that do not contain discrete molecular units, use
the term formula mass instead.

For example, the molecular mass of H2O molecule is,

 Molecular Mass
Practice
Exercise:
 Molecular Mass
Practice
Exercise:
Molecular Mass vs. Molar Mass
Molecular Mass
Practice exercise:

1. What are the molecular masses of H2O, CH4? 18 amu, 16 amu

2. Calculate the number of moles of chloroform (CHCl3) in 598 g of

chloroform. 5 moles
3. How many H atoms are in 72.5 g of iso-propanol (rubbing alcohol),
C3H8O? 5.8 x 1024 H atoms