Atom
The actual mass of an atom at rest is often expressed using the unified atomic mass unit (u), also called dalton (Da). This unit is defined as a twelfth of the mass of a free neutral atom of carbon-12, which is approximately . Hydrogen-1 (the lightest isotope of hydrogen which is also the nuclide with the lowest mass) has an atomic weight of 1.007825 u. The value of this number is called the atomic mass. A given atom has an atomic mass approximately equal (within 1%) to its mass number times the atomic mass unit (for example the mass of a nitrogen-14 is roughly 14 u). However, this number will not be exactly an integer except in the case of carbon-12 (see below). The heaviest stable atom is lead-208, with a mass of .
Atomic mass
When divided by unified atomic mass units, or daltons ("abbr." Da), to form a pure numeric ratio, the atomic mass of an atom becomes a dimensionless value called the relative isotopic mass (see section below). Thus, the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom is 12 u (or 12 Da), but the relative isotopic mass of a carbon-12 atom is simply 12.