Relative atomic mass
It is a synonym for atomic weight, though it is not to be confused with relative isotopic mass. Relative atomic mass is also frequently used as a synonym for "standard" atomic weight and these quantities may have overlapping values if the relative atomic mass used is that for an element from Earth under defined conditions. However, relative atomic mass (atomic weight) is still technically distinct from standard atomic weight because of its application only to the atoms obtained from a single sample; it is also not restricted to terrestrial samples, whereas standard atomic weight averages multiple samples but only from terrestrial sources. Relative atomic mass is therefore a more general term that can more broadly refer to samples taken from non-terrestrial environments or highly specific terrestrial environments which may differ substantially from Earth-average or reflect different degrees of certainty (e.g. in number of significant figures) than those reflected in standard atomic weights.
Molecular mass
In the example above the atomic mass of carbon is given as 12.011, not 12. This is because naturally occurring carbon is a mixture of the isotopes C, C and C which have relative atomic masses of 12, 13 and 14 respectively. Moreover, the proportion of the isotopes varies between samples, so 12.011 is an average value. By contrast, there is less variation in naturally occurring hydrogen so the average atomic mass is known more precisely. The precision of the molecular mass is determined by precision of the least precise atomic mass value, in this case that of carbon. In high-resolution mass spectrometry the isotopomers CH and CH are observed as distinct molecules, with molecular masses of 16 and 17, respectively. The intensity of the mass-spectrometry peaks is proportional to the isotopic abundances in the molecular species. C H H can also be observed with molecular mass of 17.