Let us calculate the molecular weight of some common compounds. For example, in one mole of a chemical compound there are 6.022 x 1023 molecules. One mole of 'something' contains 6.022 x 1023 entities. A mole is the unit that measures the amount of a substance. One thousand mers connected together would add up to a weight of 28,000 grams/mole and would have 6,000 atoms.Ī mole is the standard method in chemistry for communicating how much of a substance is present.
We combine (react) many mers of ethylene together to form a polyethylene chain. The atomic weight of carbon is 12 and that of hydrogen is 1, so one mer of ethylene has a weight of 2(12) + 4(1) = 28. It has a total of 6 atoms: 2 carbon (C) atoms and 4 hydrogen (H) atoms. The chemical formula for an ethylene monomer is -(CH2-CH2).In order to calculate the molecular weight of one water molecule, we add the contributions from each atom that is, 2(1) + 1(16) = 18 grams/mole. Using the periodic table of the elements to find atomic weights, we find that hydrogen has an atomic weight of 1, and oxygen's is 16. The chemical formula for water is H2O, which means this molecule has 3 atoms: 2 of hydrogen (H) and 1 oxygen (O) atom.These relative weights computed from the chemical equation are sometimes called equation weights. This site explains how to find molar mass.įormula weights are especially useful in determining the relative weights of reagents and products in a chemical reaction. The reason is that the molar mass of the substance affects the conversion. To complete this calculation, you have to know what substance you are trying to convert. Using the chemical formula of the compound and the periodic table of elements, we can add up the atomic weights and calculate molecular weight of the substance.Ī common request on this site is to convert grams to moles. The percentage by weight of any atom or group of atoms in a compound can be computed by dividing the total weight of the atom (or group of atoms) in the formula by the formula weight and multiplying by 100. If the formula used in calculating molar mass is the molecular formula, the formula weight computed is the molecular weight. The formula weight is simply the weight in atomic mass units of all the atoms in a given formula. When calculating molecular weight of a chemical compound, it tells us how many grams are in one mole of that substance. For bulk stoichiometric calculations, we are usually determining molar mass, which may also be called standard atomic weight or average atomic mass.įinding molar mass starts with units of grams per mole (g/mol). This is not the same as molecular mass, which is the mass of a single molecule of well-defined isotopes. This is how to calculate molar mass (average molecular weight), which is based on isotropically weighted averages. The atomic weights used on this site come from NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In chemistry, the formula weight is a quantity computed by multiplying the atomic weight (in atomic mass units) of each element in a chemical formula by the number of atoms of that element present in the formula, then adding all of these products together.