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Grade 11Physical Chemistry

Why is C-12 taken as a standard for calculating atomic masses?

Profile image of Purva Agrawal
7 Years agoGrade 11
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1 Answer

Profile image of Arun
7 Years ago
Instead of using either Hydrogen, or Oxygen as the standard, the isotope of Carbonwith 6 protons and 6 neutrons in its nucleus (Carbon-12) was given a mass of exactly 12. ... So the Atomic Mass of Carbon-12 is defined to be 12 exactly and all other atomic, molecular and formula masses are referred to this standard.