

Note that, it was found the rest mass of an atomic nucleus is measurably smaller than the sum of the rest masses of its constituent protons, neutrons and electrons. For 63Cu the atomic mass is less than 63 so this must be the dominant factor. A nucleus with greater binding energy has a lower total energy, and therefore a lower mass according to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence relation E = mc 2.

The unit of measure for mass is the atomic mass unit (amu). Units of measure have been defined for mass and energy on the atomic scale to make measurements more convenient to express. The size and mass of atoms are so small that the use of normal measuring units, while possible, is often inconvenient.

Note that, each element may contain more isotopes, therefore this resulting atomic mass is calculated from naturally-occuring isotopes and their abundance. The atomic mass is carried by the atomic nucleus, which occupies only about 10 -12 of the total volume of the atom or less, but it contains all the positive charge and at least 99.95% of the total mass of the atom. The atomic mass or relative isotopic mass refers to the mass of a single particle, and therefore is tied to a certain specific isotope of an element.
