Base excess in the other. A secondary (compensatory) process can be readily identified because it "opposes" the observed deviation in blood pH. For example, inadequate ventilation, a respiratory problem, causes a buildup of CO, hence respiratory acidosis; the kidneys then attempt to compensate for the low pH by raising blood bicarbonate. The kidneys only partially compensate, so the patient may still have a low blood pH, i.e. acidosis. In summary, the kidneys partially compensate for respiratory acidosis by raising blood bicarbonate. A high base excess, thus metabolic alkalosis, usually involves an excess of bicarbonate. It can be caused by A base deficit
Mass excess excess can be converted into energy using = , and "E" = "mc", yielding . Mass excess The mass excess of a nuclide is the difference between its actual mass and its mass number in atomic mass units. It is one of the predominant methods for tabulating nuclear mass. The mass of an atomic nucleus is well approximated (less than 0.1% difference for most nuclides) by its mass number, which indicates that most of the mass of a nucleus arises from mass of its constituent protons and neutrons. Thus, the mass excess is an expression of the nuclear binding energy,