[Professor 0110]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there was any real difference between the Atomic Mass Unit (A.M.U) and the Relative Atomic Mass (RAM). From my understanding, both measure the mass of an atom of an element as compared to 1/12th the mass of an atom of Carbon. Therefore normal carbon (not taking into account carbon Isotopes here) would have an Atomic Mass Unit of 12.00. Would the Relative Atomic Mass also be 12.00, or is there actually a difference?

Any help will be appreciated!

Cheers,

[sjb]

What do you mean by "normal carbon (not taking into account carbon Isotopes here)".

As far as I know, both are defined currently so that there are an Avogadro's number of atoms in 12.000g (exactly) of ¹²C at rest, rather than 12.000g (exactly) of carbon (taking into account the existence of e.g. ¹⁴C etc)