What is a Mole?

A Mole...
When you hear or read the phrase, The
Mole, you might be inclined to think of a
small burrowing animal or secret agent.
However, a mole in chemistry is a very
important term and your understanding of
this concept will be important while in this
class.

What is it?
A mole is a counting unit. It is
abbreviated mol and is a unit used in
chemistry that allows us to deal with
numbers of atoms, molecules, or formula
units in a sample of a substance.
*** Chemists have defined a mole as the
number of carbon atoms in exactly 12g of
pure carbon-12. ***

Other Counting Units

Just like a dozen is equal to 12 of
something and a pair is equal to 2 of
something chemists have established
that
a mole is equal to 6.02 x 1023 of
something.
In chemistry the something refers to
particles (atoms, molecules, ions, or
formula units).

6.02 x 10

23

Just like the number 3.14159 has a name pi (), 6.02 x 1023 has a name. It is called
Avogadro's Number.

Why do we use a mole?

Now, would you say a dozen pencils weigh
the same as a dozen cars? Of course not!

While the amount of both objects is the

same, we would expect the mass of a
dozen pencils and cars to be different.

Amount vs. Mass

A mole of anything represents the same amount
( 6.02 x 1023) but it does NOT represent the same
mass for all substances.
The mole is the link between amount and mass.
The MASS of 1 mole is equal to the atomic mass
of a substance

Check for Understanding!

1
mole
Sub
of a Mas
stan
subs s (g)
ce
tanc
e
6.02
x
Oxy
1023 16.0
gen
atom 0 g
(O)

Conversion Factors!
1 mole = 6.02 x 1023 particles (atoms,
molecules, ions, formula units)
We can write each conversion factor two ways -- the way in which one
is used will depend on the dimensional analysis setup.

Check for Understanding!

WE DO...
How many particles are in 2 moles of silver?

Check for Understanding!

YOU DO...
The sample of water contains 8.93 x 1023 molecules, how
many moles of water is this?