State why indirect methods are utilised to determine thw absolute mass of an atom. Explain in brief the indirect method used.
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An indirect method to determine the absolute mass of an atom has been devised. The mass of a particular atom is taken as a standard unit and the masses of other atoms are related to this standard. Hydrogen being the lightest element and being the smallest atom was chosen and assumed to have a mass of 1. An atom of hydrogen was assigned an atomic mass equal to one atomic mass unit (a.m.u). The number does not signify the mass of an atom in grams. It is just a pure number. The masses of atoms of other elements were compared to that of hydrogen, in order to find their atomic mass relative to it. If one atom of sulphur weighs as much as 32 atoms of hydrogen, then the relative atomic mass of sulphur is 32 a.m.u.
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An indirect method to determine the absolute mass of an atom has been devised. The mass of a particular atom is taken as a standard unit and the masses of other atoms are related to this standard. Hydrogen being the lightest element and being the smallest atom was chosen and assumed to have a mass of 1. An atom of hydrogen was assigned an atomic mass equal to one atomic mass unit (a.m.u). The number does not signify the mass of an atom in grams. It is just a pure number. The masses of atoms of other elements were compared to that of hydrogen, in order to find their atomic mass relative to it. If one atom of sulphur weighs as much as 32 atoms of hydrogen, then the relative atomic mass of sulphur is 32 a.m.u.
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