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kat_r
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how do you convert the atomic mass unit into kgs?
kat_r said:how do you convert the atomic mass unit into kgs?
(Original Msg Corrected Thanks To Curious3141, et. al.):kat_r said:how do you convert the atomic mass unit into kgs?
Night Owl said:Curious 3141 is right; that first post is wrong. He gave the mass of an electron. Curious 3141's value should be right (I remember it being 1.66 x 10^-27 kg = 1 amu)
If you wanted to derive it, you could remember that 1 amu is defined as 1/12 the mass of a carbon 12 atom, which, by definition of the mole, I believe, has a molar mass of 12 g/mol. So if you have 6.022 x 10^23 atoms (1 mole of atoms) of Carbon-12, you'll have (6.022 x 10^23 atoms)(12 amu/atom) = (12 g)(1 kg/1000 g)
Which comes out to: 7.2264 x 10^24 amu = 0.012 kg
Divide both sides by 7.2264 x 10^24, and you get:
1 amu = 1.661 x 10^-27 kg <--- with significant figures.
I'm pretty sure the reasoning behind that method of derivation is sound. In any case, it gets you the right result. The only reason I wonder about it is because, I know that carbon-12 is defined as having exactly 12 amu, and I'm pretty sure that one mole of atoms is defined as the number of atoms required to achieve a mass, in grams, whose numerical value is equal to the numerical value of amu (so a mole of carobon-12, which is 12 amu exactly, will have a mass of 12 grams exactly).
Anyway. Yeah. Curious is right.
An atomic mass unit (amu) is a unit of measurement used to express the mass of an atom or molecule. It is defined as one-twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom.
1 amu is equal to 1.66054 x 10^-27 kg. This means that the mass of an atom in amu is equivalent to its mass in kg multiplied by this conversion factor.
Converting from amu to kg allows for more precise and accurate measurements of atomic and molecular masses. This is especially important in scientific research and calculations.
To convert from amu to kg, simply multiply the number of amu by 1.66054 x 10^-27 kg. For example, if an atom has a mass of 20 amu, its mass in kg would be 20 x 1.66054 x 10^-27 = 3.32108 x 10^-26 kg.
No, atomic mass units and kilograms are not interchangeable units. They are used to measure different quantities (mass at the atomic level vs. mass at the macroscopic level) and therefore require conversion between the two units.