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Mole Day
23Oct,2024
Mole Day
Happy Mole Day!
The word "mole" can mean a lot of things - could be a subterranean mammal, could be a speck of skin with increased melanin, or, in a chemical context, it would be the number of atoms in a mole of atoms.
A chemical mole (unit symbol: mol) is a unit of measurement used to count quantity of atoms.
A mole = 602,214,076,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. Because this number is so cumbersome, scientists use scientific notation to make it easier to use. Thus, a mole = 6.022 x 10^23. This is known as Avogadro's constant, or Avogadro's number.
It was named in tribute to Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro (or, more formally, Count Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro) for his work in molecular theory. (He lived from 1776 to 1856.) Avogadro established that equal volumes of gases will contain equal numbers of particles (atoms or molecules) when under the same conditions (i.e., temperature, pressure). Thus, the number of particles in a substance has a particular ratio to the amount of substance present (i.e., the number of atoms, or the moles of the substance). For context, this is part of why we understand that water is H2O, not OH. This contribution was not verified until after his death. So, he did not create the actual number itself, but was honored in name.
So, how did we come to define a mole as 6.022 x 10^23? Because that is how many atoms are in 12 grams of carbon-12!
This number can seem intimidating at first. Ultimately, it's jut a number - like how a dozen is always 12. A mole is just the number of atoms in a mole of atoms. And, just as a dozen eggs weigh differently than a dozen doughnuts or a dozen bags of flour, a mole of one element has a different mass/weight than a mole of another. Understanding moles helps chemists measure very tiny things (e.g., particles, such as atoms or molecules). Chemistry may sometimes require extremely precise measurements of very tiny amounts of substance, which makes moles very useful!
October 23rd is Mole Day because its date is 10/23, and a mole is 6.022 x 10 to the 23rd power.
Infographic designed, written, and illustrated by R. L. Nevinczenko. | © 2024, Quality Science Labs, LLC. All rights reserved.
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BY : Rhiannon Nevinczenko