3.

3 Molecular Mass 85

Solution We need two conversions: first from grams to moles and then from moles to
number of particles (atoms). The first step is similar to Example 3.2. Because

1 mol S 5 32.07 g S
the conversion factor is
1 mol S
32.07 g S

Avogadro’s number is the key to the second step. We have

1 mol 5 6.022 3 1023 particles (atoms)

and the conversion factors are

6.022 3 1023 S atoms 1 mol S

and
1 mol S 6.022 3 1023 S atoms

The conversion factor on the left is the one we need because it has number of S atoms
in the numerator. We can solve the problem by first calculating the number of moles
contained in 16.3 g of S, and then calculating the number of S atoms from the number
of moles of S:
grams of S ⎯→ moles of S ⎯→ number of S atoms

We can combine these conversions in one step as follows:

Elemental sulfur (S8) consists of eight
S atoms joined in a ring.
1 mol S 6.022 3 1023 S atoms
16.3 g S 3 3 5 3.06 3 1023 S atoms
32.07 g S 1 mol S

Thus, there are 3.06 3 1023 atoms of S in 16.3 g of S.

Check Should 16.3 g of S contain fewer than Avogadro’s number of atoms? What
mass of S would contain Avogadro’s number of atoms? Similar problems: 3.20, 3.21.

Practice Exercise Calculate the number of atoms in 0.551 g of potassium (K).

Review of Concepts
Referring only to the periodic table in the inside front cover and Figure 3.2,
determine which of the following contains the largest number of atoms: (a) 7.68 g
of He, (b) 112 g of Fe, and (c) 389 g of Hg.

3.3 Molecular Mass

If we know the atomic masses of the component atoms, we can calculate the mass of
a molecule. The molecular mass (sometimes called molecular weight) is the sum of the
atomic masses (in amu) in the molecule. For example, the molecular mass of H2O is

2(atomic mass of H) 1 atomic mass of O

or 2(1.008 amu) 1 16.00 amu 5 18.02 amu

In general, we need to multiply the atomic mass of each element by the number of
atoms of that element present in the molecule and sum over all the elements. Exam-
ple 3.5 illustrates this approach.