An Introduction to the Definition of Atomic Mass Units

An Introduction to the Definition of Atomic Mass UnitsThe definition of an 'atomic mass unit' is actually very simple and well understood by any chemistry student. A 'mass unit' is basically a value that is calculated from the name of an element in chemistry - for example, the name sodium atoms are equal to one 'mass unit'.The term 'atomic mass unit' is basically used to define the unit of weight of an element. It is defined as an 'ideal body weight' and can also be referred to as the equivalent mass, or 'atomic weight'.'Antimass' refers to mass in one area of space that is 'dense' compared to that of other areas of space. In this case the density is referred to as being 'antimass'. In order to fully understand the meaning of 'antimass' it is necessary to understand what a density is.Density is the measurement of the amount of matter in one area of space, relative to another area of space. It can be defined as the mass that occupies less mass than the other area of space. So the 'den sity' of the area under consideration is the weight of matter in that area, measured as one 'mass-unit' per square meter.In chemistry we use the term 'density' to determine the 'mass' of the elements. As an example, the definition of an atomic mass unit is the value of 'one' on a chart, this value is then calculated to determine the 'density' of the element. The mass of the element that is defined as the 'one' and that has the greatest density - the element with the highest atomic mass - is also referred to as the 'atom' of the element.The 'atomic mass unit' is often called the 'analemma' or the 'triad 'because of the way that it is formed from the reference to the elements that are formed in this manner. 'Analemma' comes from the Greek 'ant- ' meaning 'above' and 'ema' meaning 'two' (meaning that there are two 'units' to be formed).The fact that it is formed from elementary measurement units that have been arranged as 'triad' creates a somewhat unusual item to look at. When the num ber of elements is increased, the 'referred' names change - for example, hydrogen becomes 'monoxy' because the elementary units in the main tetrahedron start out as 'mon-' and get 'oxy-' before they reach the final shape for 'mono-'This article is to introduce some of the theories and concepts that surround and are related to the idea of mass and is not intended to be a complete description of it. If you have further questions regarding this concept or would like to know how to use the units of molecular mass and atomic mass in your chemistry class, feel free to email me.