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. This site explains how to find molar mass. 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. 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.

Magnesium hydroxide atomic mass