1. a unit of atomic mass equal to one-twelfth the mass of a carbon-12 atom
Usage: chemistry; physics

Examples

• The molecular weight of water is approximately 18 daltons.
• Proteins are measured in kilodaltons due to their large size.
• A hydrogen atom has a mass of about 1 dalton.
• The dalton is named after English chemist John Dalton.
• Mass spectrometry results are often expressed in daltons.
• Large molecules may have masses of thousands of daltons.