Scientists initially determined the atomic mass unit for oxygen by taking 1/16 of the mass of an atom of naturally occurring oxygen as the unit.
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Expressing atomic masses as whole numbers or close to whole numbers makes calculations and comparisons simpler and more intuitive.
Carbon was assigned an atomic mass of 1.0 u, and oxygen was assigned an atomic mass of 1.33 u.
Initially, scientists defined the atomic mass unit (u) as 1/16 of the mass of an atom of naturally occurring oxygen.
The modern unit of atomic mass, as per the latest IUPAC recommendations, is the unified mass, represented as ‘u’ (unified atomic mass unit).