mass unit
Noun
Meaning
a unit of measurement for mass
Source: WordNetHypernyms
Hyponyms
Examples
A given atom has an atomic mass approximately equal (within 1%) to its mass number times the atomic mass unit (for example the mass of a nitrogen-14 is roughly 14 u).
In fact, by unit conversion it is a simple matter of abstraction to realize that any traditional mass unit can theoretically be used to measure gravitational mass.
Since the atomic mass unit (amu) is defined as 1/12 of the mass of the 12 C atom, it follows that the molar mass of a substance, measured in grams per mole, is numerically equal to its mean atomic or molecular mass measured in amu.
The actual mass of an atom at rest is often expressed using the unified atomic mass unit (u), also called dalton (Da).
The unified atomic mass unit u was defined as: : Terminology The unified atomic mass unit and the dalton are different names for the same unit of measure.
This is also why the mass of a proton or neutron by itself is more than (and not equal to) 1 u. The atomic mass unit is not the unit of mass in the atomic units system, which is rather the electron rest mass (m e ).