Question

While searching for various atomic mass units, scientists initially took 1/16 of the mass of a naturally occurring oxygen atom as one unit. State two reasons for this.

Answer 1

While searching for various atomic mass units, scientists initially took 1/16 of the mass of a naturally occurring oxygen atom as one unit. The two reasons are: 

i. According to them, oxygen reacted with a large number of elements and formed compounds. 

ii. The given atomic mass unit gave masses of most of the elements as whole numbers.