Title: mass balance
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - mass balance
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.M03712
Status: current

Definition
Summation of the masses of a given element in its various compounds before and after reaction (changes) in the atmosphere; provides a test of the completeness of the accounting of the various reaction paths for this element which can be had through the compounds which have been analysed.

Source
- PAC, 1990, 62, 2167. 'Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990)' on page 2200 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199062112167)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03712/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03712/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03712/xml

Citation: Citation: 'mass balance' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.M03712
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Accessed: 2026-05-09T10:20:50+00:00