In chemistry, the molar mass (M) of a chemical compound is defined as the ratio between the mass and the amount of substance (measured in moles) of any sample of said compound. The molar mass is a bulk, not molecular, property of a substance. The molar mass is an average of many instances of the compound, which often vary in mass due to the presence of isotopes. Most commonly, the molar mass is computed from the standard atomic weights and is thus a terrestrial average and a function of the relative abundance of the isotopes of the constituent atoms on Earth. The molar mass is appropriate for converting between the mass of a substance and the amount of a substance for bulk quantities. The molecular mass and formula mass are commonly used as a synonym of molar mass, particularly for molecular compounds; however, the most authoritative sources define it differently. The difference is that molecular mass is the mass of one specific particle or molecule, while the molar mass is an average over many particles or molecules. The formula weight is a synonym of molar mass that is frequently used for non-molecular compounds, such as ionic salts. The molar mass is an intensive property of the substance, that does not depend on the size of the sample. In the International System of Units (SI), the coherent unit of molar mass is kg/mol. However, for historical reasons, molar masses are almost always expressed in g/mol. The mole was defined in such a way that the molar mass of a compound, in g/mol, is numerically equal to the average mass of one molecule, in daltons. It was exactly equal before the redefinition of the mole in 2019, and is now only approximately equal, but the difference is negligible for all practical purposes. Thus, for example, the average mass of a molecule of water is about 18.0153 daltons, and the molar mass of water is about 18.0153 g/mol. For chemical elements without isolated molecules, such as carbon and metals, the molar mass is computed dividing by the number of moles of atoms instead.

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Related concepts (25)
Molecular mass
The molecular mass (m) is the mass of a given molecule, for which the unit dalton (Da) is used. Different molecules of the same compound may have different molecular masses because they contain different isotopes of an element. The related quantity relative molecular mass, as defined by IUPAC, is the ratio of the mass of a molecule to the atomic mass constant (which is equal to one dalton) and is unitless. The molecular mass and relative molecular mass are distinct from but related to the molar mass.
Amount of substance
In chemistry, the amount of substance (symbol n) in a given sample of matter is defined as a ratio (n = N/NA) between the number of elementary entities (N) and the Avogadro constant (NA). The entities are usually molecules, atoms, or ions of a specified kind. The particular substance sampled may be specified using a subscript, e.g., the amount of sodium chloride (NaCl) would be denoted as nNaCl. The unit of amount of substance in the International System of Units is the mole (symbol: mol), a base unit.
Mole fraction
In chemistry, the mole fraction or molar fraction (xi or χi) is defined as unit of the amount of a constituent (expressed in moles), ni, divided by the total amount of all constituents in a mixture (also expressed in moles), ntot. This expression is given below: The sum of all the mole fractions is equal to 1: The same concept expressed with a denominator of 100 is the mole percent, molar percentage or molar proportion (mol%). The mole fraction is also called the amount fraction.
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