Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Amount of substance
Relative Atomic Mass Ar and Relative
Molecular Mass Mr
Aim
Define the terms relative atomic mass
and relative molecular mass
Explain the meaning of Avagadro’s
constant
Know how to calculate the number of
moles
Relative Atomic Mass (Ar) and
Relative Molecular Mass (Mr)
A single atom has a very small mass. For example, a
hydrogen atom has a mass 1.2 x 10-24g.
Due to the difficulty in working with such small
numbers, chemists use the relative atomic mass
scale to compare the masses of different atoms.
The hydrogen atom, the lightest atom, was originally
assigned an Ar value of 1, and Ar values of other
atoms were compared to this.
The reference atom that is now used is the carbon-12
isotope (12C,) which is assigned a relative atomic mass
of exactly 12.
Relative atomic mass
The relative atomic mass, Ar, is the weighted average mass of an
atom of an element, taking into account its naturally occurring
isotopes, compared to 1/12th of the relative atomic mass of an
atom of carbon-12.
Example- Aluminium
Ar (Al) = 27
An average atom of aluminium is 27 times heavier than 1/12 the mass of
a carbon-12 atom.
Relative molecular mass (relative
formula mass)
The relative molecular mass, Mr, of a
molecule is the mass of that molecule
compared to 1/12th the relative atomic
mass of an atom of carbon 12.
Note:
Number of entities (N) = number of moles (n) x 6.02 x 10 23 (L)
Example: How many molecules in 3 mol water –
N =nxL
= 3 x 6.02 x 1023
= 18.06 x 1023
Example: How many atoms in 3 mol water –
N =nxLx3
= 3 x 6.02 x 1023 x 3
= 5.418 x 1024
Molar Mass
The molar mass of a substance is the mass of
one mole in grams.
Examples:
Molar mass of carbon is… 12g
Molar mass of iodine molecules is … 254g
Molar mass of water is … 18g
Molar mass of H2SO4 is … 98g
Molar mass of NaCl is … 58.5g
Mole Calculations
Moles = mass in g/ Molar MASS
Mass = moles x Mr
Mass = 0.5 x 18
= 9g
Calculate the number of moles in:
1) 6g of carbon atoms
2)4g of oxygen atoms
3)3g of hydrogen atoms
4)328g of Ca(NO3)2
5)8.5g of methane