Mole | Definition, Number, & Facts (2024)

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How is a mole defined?

A mole is defined as 6.02214076 × 10²³ of some chemical unit, be it atoms, molecules, ions, or others. The mole is a convenient unit to use because of the great number of atoms, molecules, or others in any substance. The mole was originally defined as the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12, but in 2018 the General Conference on Weights and Measures announced that effective May 20, 2019, the mole would be just 6.02214076 × 10²³ of some chemical unit.

How is a mole calculated?

If you want to know how many moles of a material you have, divide the mass of the material by its molar mass. The molar mass of a substance is the mass in grams of one mole of that substance. This mass is given by the atomic weight of the chemical unit that makes up that substance in atomic mass units (amu). For example, silver has an atomic weight of 107.8682 amu, so one mole of silver has a mass of 107.8682 grams.

atomic weightLearn more about atomic weight.

What is Avogadro’s number?

Avogadro’s number is the number of units in one mole of a substance, or 6.02214076 × 10²³. This number is also called the Avogadro constant. It is named after the 19th-century Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro, who found that under the same temperature and pressure, two gases with the same volume have the same number of molecules. It was the French physicist Jean Perrin who in the early 20th century dubbed the amount of units in a mole as Avogadro’s number.

Amedeo AvogadroLearn more about the life of the groundbreaking physicist Amedeo Avogadro.

What is the molar mass formula?

The molar mass of some substance is the mass in grams of one mole of that substance. This mass is given by the atomic weight of the chemical unit that makes up that substance in atomic mass units (amu). For example, gold has an atomic weight of 196.967 amu, so one mole of gold has a mass of 196.967 grams. For a substance that is composed of more than one kind of atom, one adds up the atomic weights of the individual atoms for the chemical unit that makes up that substance. Water is composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. The atomic weight of one atom of hydrogen is 1.008 amu, so that of two atoms is 2.016. The atomic weight of one atom of oxygen is 15.999, so the molar mass of water is 2.016 + 15.999 = 18.015 grams.

atomic weightLearn more about atomic weight.

mole, in chemistry, a standard scientific unit for measuring large quantities of very small entities such as atoms, molecules, or other specified particles.

The mole designates an extremely large number of units, 6.02214076 × 10²³. The General Conference on Weights and Measures defined the mole as this number for the International System of Units (SI) effective from May 20, 2019. The mole was previously defined as the number of atoms determined experimentally to be found in 12 grams of carbon-12. The number of units in a mole also bears the name Avogadro’s number, or Avogadro’s constant, in honour of the Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856). Avogadro proposed that equal volumes of gases under the same conditions contain the same number of molecules, a hypothesis that proved useful in determining atomic and molecular weights and which led to the concept of the mole. (See Avogadro’s law.)

The number of atoms or other particles in a mole is the same for all substances. The mole is related to the mass of an element in the following way: one mole of carbon-12 atoms has 6.02214076 × 10²³ atoms and a mass of 12 grams. In comparison, one mole of oxygen consists, by definition, of the same number of atoms as carbon-12, but it has a mass of 15.999 grams. Oxygen, therefore, has a greater mass than carbon. This reasoning also can be applied to molecular or formula weights.

The concept of the mole helps to put quantitative information about what happens in a chemical equation on a macroscopic level. For example, in the chemical reaction 2H₂O → O₂ + 2H₂, two moles of water are decomposed into two moles of molecular hydrogen and one mole of molecular oxygen. The mole can be used to determine the simplest formula of a compound and to calculate the quantities involved in chemical reactions. When dealing with reactions that take place in solutions, the related concept of molarity is useful. Molarity (M) is defined as the number of moles of a solute in a litre of solution.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.

Mole | Definition, Number, & Facts (2024)

How is a mole defined?

How is a mole calculated?

What is Avogadro’s number?

What is the molar mass formula?

References