Talk:Carbon-12/Archive 1
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| Archive 1 |
Arbitrary choice for mole definition?
Is there any reason why Carbon-12 was chosen as the basis of the mole and amu? Can someone please clarify if this was arbitrary? Glueball 15:52, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
- Maybe this article can ask you: Atomic mass unit
- The unit is convenient because one hydrogen atom has a mass
of approximately 1 u, and more generally an atom or molecule that contains n protons and neutrons will have a mass approximately equal to n u. (The reason is that a carbon-12 atom contains 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons, with the protons and neutrons having about the same mass and the electron mass being negligible in comparison.)
- Remember that 1 u = 1/12 of the Carbon-12 real mass. --Daniel bg 16:48, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
"Most abundant"
With respect to what? the Earth or the universe (so far as we know) in general? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.185.113.8 (talk) 07:02, 11 January 2009 (UTC)