the mass of an atom of a chemical element expressed in atomic mass units. It is approximately equivalent to the number of protons and neutrons in the atom (the mass number) or to the average number allowing for the relative abundances of different isotopes.
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The atomic mass of an atom is the mass of 6.011 X 10^23 atoms of that element.
Atomic number is number of protons in an atom while atomic mass is the sum of protons and neutrons in an atom when you subtract you will get the number of neutrons in an atom.
It tells you the average amount of protons and neutrons within the nucleus of an atom. In other words, atomic mass - atomic number (protons)= the number of neutrons within the nucleus.
The mass of carbon -12 atom is known as standard atomic mass
The average atomic mass is the ratio of the average mass of one atom of an element to one twelfth of the mass of an atom of carbon-12. It is, the mass of an atom of the substance, rescaled so that carbon-12 would have a mass of 12.