Dalton (unit) - Wikipedia
The dalton or unified atomic mass unit (symbols: Da or u) is a unit of mass widely used in physics and chemistry. It is defined as 1/12 of the mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state and at rest.[1][2] The atomic mass constant, denoted mu is defined identically, giving mu = m(12C)/12 = 1 Da .[3] A unit dalton is also approximately numerically equal to the molar mass of the same expressed in g / mol (1 Da ≈ 1 g/mol). Prior to the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units these were numerically identical by definition (1 Da = 1 g/mol) and are still treated as such for most purposes.
This unit is commonly used in physics and chemistry to express the mass of atomic-scale objects, such as atoms, molecules, and elementary particles, both for discrete instances and multiple types of ensemble averages. For example, an atom of helium-4 has a mass of 4.0026 Da . This is an intrinsic property of the isotope and all helium-4 atoms have the same mass. Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), C 9 H 8 O 4 , has an average mass of approximately 180.157 Da . However, there are no acetylsalicylic acid molecules with this mass. The two most common masses of individual acetylsalicylic acid molecules are 180.0423 Da , having the most common isotopes, and 181.0456 Da , in which one carbon is carbon-13.
The molecular masses of proteins, nucleic acids, and other large polymers are often expressed with the units kilodaltons (kDa), megadaltons (MDa), etc.[4] Titin, one of the largest known proteins, has a molecular mass of between 3 and 3.7 megadaltons.[5] The DNA of chromosome 1 in the human genome has about 249 million base pairs, each with an average mass of about 650 Da , or 156 GDa total.[6]
