MadSci Network: Chemistry
Query:

Re: Formula weight & electron mass

Date: Wed Oct 13 16:46:54 1999
Posted By: Dan Berger, Faculty Chemistry/Science, Bluffton College
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 937939021.Ch
Message:

When calculating the formula weight of a very large molecular formula (e.g. Hemoglobin C2952 H4664 N812 O832 S8 Fe4), is the mass of the electrons included? Although the electrons are only 1/1480 of an AMU, when you have a substance like this, the electrons alone would count for over 40 g/mol. Is the mass of the electrons factored in,or is it left out when calculating molor masses like this?
My compliments on an excellent question! The mass of the electrons is factored into ANY atomic or molecular mass, but not explicitly.

You see, atomic masses are not determined by adding nucleon masses; for one thing, that wouldn't work any too well because of the mass changes associated with nuclear binding energies. Instead, atomic masses are determined from whole atoms, by a combination of definition and experiment.

Definition
Atomic masses are defined in terms of a reference mass; all atomic masses nowadays are determined relative to the standard mass of 12C = 12.00000000...

Experiment
Atomic and molecular masses are determined by mass spectrometry, in which a single electron is stripped from the species of interest and the charge/mass ratio of the resulting cation is determined. Since only a single electron is stripped away, the resulting number is essentially the same as the mass with a full complement of electrons (and can be easily corrected for the single missing electron). Thus, the electron masses are factored into the way atomic masses are determined, and the atomic masses you see on the Periodic Table include all the atom's electrons.

Dan Berger
Bluffton College
http://cs.bluffton.edu/~berger



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