INTERNATIONAL MOLE DAY 2008

It was an exciting day in Chemistry classes, who had been anticipating this for weeks. Cookies, cakes, cards, and posters were made in anticipation of this amazing event. The real question is: what is a mol,mole,mowl ? ----however you spell it. After checking out photos taken in Ms. Zuberek's room, you will find the answer at the bottom of this page.

When is Mole Day?

Mole Day is typically Celebrated on October 23, beginning at 6:02a.m. and ending at 6:02p.m. Get it? Avogadro's number is 6.02 x 10²³, 6:02 in the morning to.... oh never mind. You get it.

What do people do on Mole Day ?

        In Mrs. Zuberek's Science classes, they celebrate Mole Day with a big party. Students make posters, cakes brownies, and other projects that celebrate the Mole. Of course, some students confuse the definition of a mathematical mole with the animal  mole that lives in the forest. 

A mole is simply a constant number, much like a dozen is a constant number. The numerical equivalent to a dozen is 12, while the numerical equivalent to a mole is 6.02 x 10²³. Therefore, one mole of any kind of objects is 6.02 x 10²³ of those objects.

The concept of a mole becomes very convenient in Chemistry because it allows us to count objects that are much too small for us to see. Here's basically how it works. It turns out that if you have 1 mole of atoms, then they will have a measurable mass, in grams, that is equal to the average atomic mass of single atoms. For instance, 1 mole of carbon atoms (6.02 x 10²³ atoms) will have a mass of 12.011g.  So, we can convert something that is measurable in the lab, mass, to something that we can't measure in the lab, a number of atoms.