Molar mass
Molar mass (M) is a physical property, defined as the mass of a given element or molecule per mole of that substance. Since a mole is defined as the amount of a substance and substances have different masses, each element or molecule will have a different molar mass. For example, if someone has a dozen bricks and another person has a dozen feathers, they have the same amount of their substance, but a vastly different total mass. However when talking about moles, instead of only having a dozen, there is in fact 6.022141 x 1023 of a given substance in a mole (known as Avogadro's number). This comparison is seen below:
In SI units, the molar mass is given by kg/mol, however by convention the molar mass is expressed in units of g/mol. The molar mass of any element or molecule is given by the sum of the atomic weights multiplied by 1 g/mol. A list of some molar masses can be seen below.[1]
| Element/Molecule | Molar Mass (M) |
|---|---|
| Hydrogen (H) | 1.00794 g/mol |
| Carbon (C) | 12.0107 g/mol |
| Iron (Fe) | 55.845 g/mol |
| Uranium | 238.02891 g/mol |
| Water (H2O) | 18.01528 g/mol |
| Carbon dioxide (CO2) | 44.0095 g/mol |
By knowing the molar mass of a substance, having any mass of that substance allows one to know how many moles of it they have. This is given by the equation
where:
is the mass of the substance in grams
is the molar mass of the substance
is the amount in moles of that substance
For Further Reading
- Carbon dioxide
- Molecule
- Mole
- Chemical
- Or explore a random page
References
- ↑ M. Wieser, Atomic Weights of the Elements 2005 [Online], Available: http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2006/pdf/7811x2051.pdf