The existence of two distinct units with the same name was confusing, and the difference (about  in relative terms) was large enough to affect high-precision measurements. Moreover, it was discovered that the isotopes of oxygen had different natural abundances in water and in air. For these and other reasons, in 1961 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), which had absorbed the ICAW, adopted a new definition of the atomic mass unit for use in both physics and chemistry; namely,  of the mass of a carbon-12 atom. This new value was intermediate between the two earlier definitions, but closer to the one used by chemists (who would be affected the most by the change).
The new unit was named the "unified atomic mass unit" and given a new symbol "u", to replace the old "amu" that had been used for the oxygen-based units. However, the old symbol "amu" has sometimes been used, after 1961, to refer to the new unit, particularly in lay and preparatory contexts.
With this new definition, the standard atomic weight of carbon is about , and that of oxygen is about . These values, generally used in chemistry, are based on averages of many samples from Earth's crust, its atmosphere, and organic materials.