Convert Bekan (Biblical Hebrew) (bekan) to Atomic Mass Unit (u) instantly.
About these units
Bekan (Biblical Hebrew) (bekan)
The bekan (or beka) is a half-shekel unit, approximately 5.6 grams. It appears in the Hebrew Bible as the required contribution for the census tax, symbolizing equality among contributors regardless of wealth. As a practical unit, the beka was useful for small-scale offerings, jewelry, and silverwork. Its precise half-shekel value made it easy to incorporate into the larger Hebrew weight structure. The bekan highlights how weights were intertwined with religious observance and communal obligations in ancient Israelite society.
Atomic Mass Unit (u)
The atomic mass unit (u) is defined as exactly 1/12 the mass of a neutral carbon-12 atom, which makes it approximately 1.66053906660 × 10⁻²⁷ kilograms. This definition allows scientists to express atomic and molecular masses in a convenient, intuitive scale that aligns with the structure of the periodic table. By anchoring the unit to carbon-12, chemists and physicists gained a universal reference point that harmonizes molecular weight, relative isotopic abundance, and mass spectroscopy results. The atomic mass unit effectively normalizes the complexity of atomic masses into whole-number or near-whole-number values for most nuclei. In chemistry, u is indispensable for calculating molar masses, reaction stoichiometry, and isotopic compositions. It is also used across nuclear physics, astrophysics, and biophysics, demonstrating the universality of atomic-scale measurement.