The artificial sweetener NutraSweet is a chemical called aspartame (C14H18N2O5).
(a) What is its molecular mass (in atomic mass units)?
u
(b) What is the mass (in kg) of an aspartame molecule?
kg
I know I have to get the totally mass of the aspartame, but I'm unsure how to work the problem.
Let's call the atomic mass unit u.
1 u = 1.6605*10^(-27) kg
Mass of C is 12 u
Mass of H = 1 u
Mass of N = 14 u
Mass of O = 16 u
Do I multiply the 1 u by the mass of the aspartame then add them up .
and for the mass of kg what is the conversion factor.
Mass of C14H18N2O5 is:
14 times mass of C + 18 times mass of H etc.
Mass of C is 12 u as listed above.
Then you get an answer for the mass in terms of u. If then substitute u = 1.6605*10^(-27) kg you get the mass in kg.
I divided the 1.6605*10^-27 by 294.13 and got 1.77*10^-25kg, but that doesn't seem to be the right answer.
To calculate the molecular mass of aspartame, you need to determine the sum of the atomic masses of all the atoms present in the molecule.
(a) To calculate the molecular mass (in atomic mass units, u) of aspartame (C14H18N2O5), you need to find the atomic masses of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O) from the periodic table and then multiply them by the number of atoms present in the molecule:
C14: Atomic mass of carbon (C) = 12.01 u (rounded to two decimal places)
H18: Atomic mass of hydrogen (H) = 1.01 u (rounded to two decimal places)
N2: Atomic mass of nitrogen (N) = 14.01 u (rounded to two decimal places)
O5: Atomic mass of oxygen (O) = 16.00 u (rounded to two decimal places)
Now, multiply the atomic mass of each element by the number of atoms and sum them up:
(14 * 12.01 u) + (18 * 1.01 u) + (2 * 14.01 u) + (5 * 16.00 u) = 322.34 u
Therefore, the molecular mass of aspartame is approximately 322.34 atomic mass units (u).
(b) To calculate the mass of one aspartame molecule in kilograms (kg), you need to convert the molecular mass from atomic mass units (u) to grams (g) and then to kilograms (kg). There are 1,000 grams (g) in a kilogram (kg).
322.34 u * (1 g / 1 u) * (1 kg / 1000 g) = 0.32234 kg
Therefore, the mass of one aspartame molecule is approximately 0.32234 kilograms (kg).