Moles

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Moles

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Measuring samples
How can we quantify the amount of substance in a sample?

You might be used to answering this

question using mass, giving your units
in grams.

What if we wanted to know

how many atoms there are?

There are too many to count…

A unit of measurement called

the mole is used instead.

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What is a mole?
A mole is an SI unit that is used to denote the number of
atoms or molecules in a given amount of substance. The
symbol for the unit mole is mol.

A mole is defined as the number of atoms

in exactly 12 g of carbon-12.

This is equal to lots of atoms indeed. One mole of any

substance contains 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
(6.02 × 1023) particles.

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What is a mole? (2)

For example, the relative

atomic mass of carbon is 12,
so one mole of carbon
atoms weighs 12 grams.

What is the mass of one mole of hydrogen atoms?

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Moles and mass
How is it possible to know the quantity of each substance that
contains the same number of particles as 12 g of carbon-12?

The mass of one mole of a substance is numerically

equal to its relative atomic mass (or relative formula
mass) in grams.

How many moles are there in the following:

 24 g of magnesium? 1 mol

 24 g of carbon? 2 mol

 20 g of calcium? 0.5 mol

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How many moles?

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Avogadro’s number
One mole of a substance contains the same number of
particles as one mole of any other substance.
The number of particles in one mole of a substance is
called Avogadro’s number.

Avogadro’s number = 6.02 × 1023

For example,
6
 1 mole of carbon atoms weigh 12 g. C
carbon

Therefore, there are 6.02 × 1023 atoms in 12 g of carbon. 12

20
 1 mole of calcium atoms weigh 40 g. Ca
calcium

Therefore, there are 6.02 × 1023 atoms in 40g of calcium. 40

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Avogadro’s number in context
Avogadro’s number is named after Amedeo Avogadro,
an Italian scientist working in the early 19th century.

6.02 × 1023 really is a mantle

remarkably large crust
number of particles.
marbles
If you collected 6.02 × 1023
marbles and spread them
over the surface of the Earth,
they would form a layer of
marbles 50 miles thick!

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Moles
Moles can be used to measure atoms, ions, electrons
or molecules.

How many moles are there in the following:

 12g of carbon? 1 mol

 44 g of carbon
1 mol
dioxide (CO2)?

 28g of nitrogen (N2)? 1 mol

 17 g of ammonia (NH3)? 1 mol

The number of particles in each of the above substances

will be equal to Avogadro’s number (6.02 × 1023).

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What is the mass of one mole?

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Moles

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Mole equation
The number of moles in a sample can be calculated
using this equation:

mass of substance (g)

number of moles (mol) =
molar mass (g/mol)

The molar mass is the mass in grams of one mole of a

substance. For elements, this is simply the RAM value in
grams/mol.

Some elements exist as molecules, for example, O2. The

molecular mass will need to be used for these elements
rather than the atomic mass.

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Mole equation: example calculations

number of moles = mass of substance

molar mass

1. How many moles of iron are in 28 g of pure iron?

28
number of moles = = 0.5 moles of iron
56

2. How many moles of CO2 are in 11 g of carbon dioxide?

relative formula mass = 12 + (16 × 2) = 44

11
number of moles = = 0.25 moles of CO2
44

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Mole equation rearrangement
The mole equation can also be rearranged. This can be
done by using an equation triangle (below).

mass
mass = moles × molar mass

molar
moles mass
Example
1. What is the mass of 3.5 mol
of pure iron, Fe?

mass = 3.5 x 56 = 196 g of iron

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Mole calculations

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Moles

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Glossary

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Multiple-choice quiz

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