Talk:Nucleon number
From Mass Spec Terms
--Ionworker 11:58, 6 Jan 2005 (CST)
I think a dimensionless quantity should not be called a mass. Therefore mass number should be discontinued. Also, nucleon number is more precisely describing what is meant.
Moved from front page:
| DRAFT DEFINITION |
| Nucleon number |
|---|
| Related Term(s): |
| Reference(s): |
| This is an unofficial draft definition presented for information and comment. |
Comments
There used to be another name for the same property: the Mass number. This name, however, is misleading because a unitless quantity should not be called "mass". The symbol for the quantity nucleon number used to be m, which is even more unfortunate because m is the official symbol of a mass quantity.
The nominal mass M has a simillar meaning as the nuclear number, but it is not dimensionless. It is a mass measured in the Atomic Mass Unit, also called Dalton.
- M = z Da
where z is an integer value.
