What is the difference between the molecular mass and molar mass?
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The molecular mass of a substance, also called molecular weight, is the mass of one molecule of that substance.
Abbreviated explanation
The molar mass is generally computed from isotopically weighted averages, whereas the molecular mass is the mass of a single molecule consisting of well-defined isotopes.
It is common, even amongst professional chemists, to use the terms interchangeably since for most common applications the difference is insignificant. This can, however, on occasion lead to substantive confusion. Due to this common practice some areas of chemistry have developed their own more specific terms such as monoisotopic mass and average mass.
–Extracted From Wiki
It is common, even amongst professional chemists, to use the terms interchangeably since for most common applications the difference is insignificant. This can, however, on occasion lead to substantive confusion. Due to this common practice some areas of chemistry have developed their own more specific terms such as monoisotopic mass and average mass. Due to these subtle differences and the inherent nature of the molar mass it is always more correct, accurate and consistent to use molar mass in any bulk stoichiometric calculations.
Hope this helps.
The molar mass of a substance is the mass of 1 mol (the SI unit for the basis SI quantity amount of substance, having the symbol n). This has a numerical value which is approximately the molecular mass multiplied by Avogadro’s constant 6.022*1023, and the SI unit kg/mol, usually also found as stated in g/mol .
Approximate Conversion Factor of molecular mass to molar mass
molar mass = molecular mass * (6.022*1023)
Example:
The atomic mass of hydrogen is 1.00794 u and that of oxygen is 15.9994 u;
therefore, the molecular mass of water with formula H2O is (2 × 1.00794 u) + 15.9994 u = 18.01528 u. Therefore, one mole of water has a mass of 18.01528 grams. However, the exact mass of hydrogen-1 (the most common isotope) is 1.00783, and the exact mass of oxygen-16 (the most common isotope) is 15.9949, so the mass of the most common single molecule of water is 18.01056 u. This is a difference of 0.00472 u or 0.03%. Although this difference is trivial in bulk calculations, it can result in complete failure in situations where the behavior of individual molecules matters, such as in particle physics (where the mixture of isotopes does not act as an average).
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